ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF INVESTMENT, TRADE AND INDUSTRY HONOURABLE, VINCENT T. SERETSE AT THE PRIZE GIVING CEREMONY OF THE CEDA/DBSA UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE 2017

Director of Ceremonies,

Your Honour, the Vice President of the Republic of Botswana, Mr. Mokgweetsi E.K Masisi,

Cabinet Ministers;

Honourable Members of Parliament;

Your Worship the Mayor of Gaborone City Kagiso Thutlwe;

All Permanent Secretaries;

CEDA Chairman, Dr Alfred Tsheboeng and members of the Board of Directors;

Chief Executive Officer of the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Mr Patrick Dlamini,

CEO, CEDA Mr Thabo Thamane;

Distinguished Guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Good Evening.

1.               It is indeed an honour and a privilege for me to welcome you all to this auspicious occasion, the official prize-giving ceremony of  the CEDA/DBSA University Challenge 2017 today. Let me take this opportunity to specially recognise His Honour the Vice President of the Republic of Botswana Mokgweetsi E. Masisi, who as some of you will remember pledged on behalf of CEDA to match the proposed pledge by DBSA. Today marks the end of a long journey that has been taken to find the winner and the top ten (10) of the CEDA/DBSA University Challenge 2017.

2.               Since the launch of the University Challenge in June 2017, the competition has been targeted and intensively marketed to encourage youth in academia with an innovation that could potentially provide Botswana with a solution to some of the country’s pressing challenges in particular addressing unemployment. We are gathered here today as representatives, stakeholders and supporters of academic institutions to bear witness to those students that have been successful in their submissions to be the first recipients of the coveted grand prize of up to P250 000.00.

3.               Ladies and Gentlemen, I am told that the CEDA/DBSA University Challenge has been an exciting initiative which has really seen the youth particularly those enrolled in the participating universities rise and come up with solutions that can really address pressing national issues that we as Batswana face. Those that submitted their proposals have put their best foot forward and made a valiant attempt at understanding what challenges we face and suggesting the possible solution to those challenges. The competition received a very positive response with over 200 entries in its first year. This response shows that the youth are hungry to share their ideas and document them in an effort to move our country forward.  

4.               It is my belief that the solutions received through this Challenge has unearthed some viable and implementable solutions that could make social impact. Through the University Challenge students can now see that there a many opportunities to take advantage of governments initiatives that can help them achieve their dreams. The Prize Money of up to P250 000.00 can really help the deserving winner in becoming an entrepreneur that could perhaps employ others and play their part in growing the economy.

5.               The Winner along with the top 10 finalist must take advantage of the opportunity that both CEDA and DBSA have presented. This is the start of many great things to come in empowering the youth. The winner must not only see the prize solely as money, they must also see this as a networking opportunity that can help grow their ideas. CEDA and DBSA are development institutions that empower businesses of all shapes and sizes in many sectors. With this opportunity, the potential for success is solely in your hands.

6.               I would also like to commend both the leadership of CEDA and DBSA for presenting this opportunity to students in the participating tertiary institutions. This competition will grow in years to come and with this year’s success will perhaps prove to those that had any doubt how important this competition is. Its success in years to come will be determined by how more students see the importance of playing their part in addressing the social issues that Botswana faces.

7.               Ladies and Gentlemen, at the official launch on the 1^st of June 2017 I challenged the private sector to come up with initiatives such as the University Challenge to foster innovation and self development particularly amongst the youth. I am proud to have seen that that has been happening particularly in the ICT space. I urge more companies to encourage youth to get actively involved in entrepreneurship and realise that the Government alone cannot resolve the issue of unemployment. For all those that did not win, I urge you to take this as a learning curve and that for the next instalments of the competition you have an opportunity to refine your ideas to enter in future.

8.               With those few remarks ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you and wish the winners all the best tonight and years to come.

PULA!!!