Allan Gray’s Botswana awards brought young entrepreneurs together with educators, funders and mentors, testing whether recognition can translate into lasting opportunity.
GAZETTE REPORTER
BUILDING ACCESS
The Allan Gray Orbis Foundation brought about 60 invited guests together in Botswana on Saturday for its Entrepreneurship Awards Ceremony, placing young people with entrepreneurial potential alongside educators, entrepreneurs, funders, institutional leaders and potential mentors.
Held under the theme “LEVEL UP: Built for What’s Next,” the evening combined recognition, dinner and networking around a central idea: promising young people need more than ambition if their ideas are to become viable enterprises.
Opening the programme, Igowbe Mbulawa, co-founder of Finance Kids Botswana, described the purpose of the evening: “Tonight is ultimately about possibility. It is about showing a young person that an idea can become something more. That a problem can become an opportunity. That confidence can be developed.”
BEYOND APPLAUSE
The event highlighted the importance of access to people, information and support as young people move from school to university and from ideas towards enterprise. The Foundation’s published Fellowship criteria identify applicants in Botswana, Namibia and Eswatini as citizens under 21 in the year they apply who are moving into university.
The programme describes support that includes funding, mentoring, entrepreneurial learning and a community of peers. The ceremony itself, however, was not presented as a substitute for that longer-term work.
Dr. Morena Rankopo, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Child Welfare, said encouraging young people to solve problems builds more than future business owners. “When we encourage a young person to look at a challenge and ask, ‘How can I solve this?’, we are cultivating much more than a potential business owner. We are developing a problem-solver, an innovator and an active contributor to society.”
WIDER PIPELINE
The invitee register included people connected to the Ministry of Trade and Entrepreneurship, the Local Enterprise Authority, Mascom Wireless Botswana, the University of Botswana, schools, media and the Allan Gray community, as well as fellows, coaches and young entrepreneurs. An invitation did not confirm attendance.
The Foundation’s wider Entrepreneurship Challenge was open to high school students in Botswana, Eswatini and Namibia. It used a virtual platform, a business-pitch competition and activities introducing young people to business concepts, and the Foundation said it ran from April through September under published terms.
Gavin Frey, the Foundation’s regional head for Eswatini, Botswana and Namibia, said: “Entrepreneurship is not about having every answer from the beginning. It is about having the courage to begin, the resilience to learn and the determination to keep moving forward.”
WHAT FOLLOWS
At the time of publication, the Foundation had not released the award categories, eligibility rules, finalists, winners, judging process, prizes, presenters or venue. Organisers and speakers were also instructed not to speculate about selection criteria or promise funding, partnerships or business-incubation support.
With a room of about 60 people, the lasting test of the event will be whether recognition leads to useful contacts, practical guidance and opportunities that continue beyond the ceremony.