From more than 300 applications to six names, Création Botswana Season 2 is putting Botswana’s jewellery talent under the spotlight and giving the country’s next generation of makers a shot at the global stage.
GOSEGO MOTSUMI
Botswana’s jewellery scene just got a new cast of characters.
After more than 300 designers and manufacturers threw their hats — and jewellery boxes — into the ring, Création Botswana Season 2 has narrowed the field to six finalists, setting the stage for a season focused on turning creative talent into serious jewellery business.
The journey was anything but a straight line. Forty submissions first made it to an online judging panel before 14 finalists faced the live audition at KGK Botswana in Gaborone. There, they introduced their brands, demonstrated their skills and laid out their ambitions before a panel of judges.
Now, six remain.
MEET THE SIX
Among the confirmed finalists are Osego Boshwaen of Boshwaen, One Rapelana of Xita, Mpho Mokgatle of Kolyreign Designs and Tshepo Bale of Bale Luxury Collections, alongside two other designers who will join the cohort.
According to Création Botswana Project Manager Nature Inger, the six will be unveiled individually before being presented together around Independence Day.
“We are going to start posting them one by one leading up to Independence Day where we post them altogether for our ‘Six for Sixty’ campaign: Six designers celebrating sixty years of Botswana,” said Inger.
The campaign gives the cohort a neat Independence-season introduction, but the real story begins after the posts stop.
FROM GABORONE TO GLOBAL
Season 2 shifts Création Botswana from fashion entrepreneurship into jewellery design and manufacturing, with the programme promising technical training, business development, mentorship, masterclasses, industry exposure and international exchange.
It is part of Création Africa, a French government programme aimed at strengthening Africa’s creative industries and building links between African talent and international markets.
For Botswana’s six, the jewellery bench is only the beginning. The bigger challenge is turning craft into brands, brands into businesses and local ideas into work that can travel.