TLOTLO KEBINAKGABO
In a telephone interview that felt less like a formal media engagement and more like a window into a restless, reform-minded leadership, Tebogo Gerda Ntesang spoke with the urgency of someone stepping into both history and uncertainty. As the first Motswana and first woman to lead the Botswana Cricket Association (BCA), she arrives not as a ceremonial pioneer, but as an administrator conscious of time, legacy and the long, unfinished work of building cricket back into the nation’s sporting bloodstream.
A Dream Lived
“I’m really excited, overwhelmed actually by excitement,” Ntesang admitted, capturing the emotional disorientation that often accompanies a long-desired breakthrough. Two weeks into the office, she is still finding her balance between ambition and responsibility. “It’s been very, very overwhelming with information because I want to grab as much as possible,” she said, describing an instinct to absorb, rather than dictate.
Her early days are defined less by grand speeches and more by intense listening. Cricket in Botswana, she noted, is not being built from scratch, but from fragments of history that demand respect. She is clear-eyed about continuity. “It’s not like it’s a vacuum,” she said, acknowledging the foundations laid by two CEOs before her.
Strategy First Steps
At the heart of her first phase in office sits a sober, forensic task: the review of the 2022–2026 strategic plan. Rather than chasing novelty, Ntesang is committed to reckoning with reality. “Check on the successes, the targets that were set up in 2022. See how much we have achieved. See how much we left behind,” she explained.
This is not an insular exercise. Alignment, she insists, is non-negotiable. The BCA’s vision must speak to the Botswana National Olympic Committee and the International Cricket Council frameworks, while also dovetailing with national sporting priorities under the Minister of Sport and Arts. For Ntesang, strategy is not paperwork; it is relevance — to government, to global cricket, and to national development.
Beyond The Field
Her ambition stretches further than boundary ropes. She speaks in the language of sustainability and national relevance, placing cricket within conversations about the SDGs and even economic contribution. “The relevance of cricket … to the GDP,” she said, is not a theoretical idea, but a box that must be diligently ticked if the sport is to earn long-term political and institutional trust.
Her academic grounding — a Bachelor’s degree in Sports Management from the University of Canberra and current studies in Olympic studies — quietly informs her worldview. It is a modern, systems-oriented outlook, rooted in over 20 years of experience in sport management and public sector leadership.
Players At Centre
Yet, beneath all the frameworks and strategies lies a simple, almost disarming philosophy. “It’s the player first,” she said. Her belief is blunt: structures, jobs, and institutions only exist because players do. “If there are no players, we will not be here.”
In that statement lies the quiet revolution of her leadership — not power over cricket, but service to those who play it.