Forbes 30 under-30 finalists embark on a blood donation drive
Botswana’s class of 2020 Forbes 30 under 30 top four finalists has embarked on a blood donation drive that commenced yesterday and is due to conclude on Sunday. The quartet of Thobo Khathola, Newman Ramatokwane, Tony Mautsu and Nigel Amos will start their campaign in Gaborone and extend the exercise to major centres in the country like Molepolole, Lobatse and Mochudi. Khathola said at a media brief this week that many people die as a result of unavailability of blood-- deaths that could have been avoided. As a businessperson, who owns a company that provides tutoring services, Khathola revealed they came together not only to donate blood but also to encourage people and corporates to support the cause. “We are business owners and masters of our own crafts. We have seen the need to do something good for our country by inspiring others to donate blood,” he explained.
Ramatokwane on the other hand said they were fortunate enough to have made it as the Forbes Africa top finalists. He added that since Batswana have not been able to know about them because of the pandemic, they had to do something for the society hence blood donation was the first thing that came to mind.
“Our blood bank is low so we are doing this to save lives. We would have loved to tour the whole country, but because of Covid and budget, we only chose a few villages in the south,” he revealed. He said they had asked comedians, Mjamaica and William Last KRM to be part of this drive and attract a large following. Ramatokwane, who runs Native Events, said it was difficult since the pandemic hit the world but they aim to help where they could.
Mautswu revealed that he personally used to suffer from nose bleeding and lost his grandfather to the same plight. “If there is no blood there is no life, we saw it fit to help get people to donate blood. As Batswana we should do things that could positively impact our communities,” he highlighted.
Amos, who is the most famous local 800m Olympic medallist, said the community has the power to come together and become strong as a nation. He added he hoped this blood donation drive will be the foundation to help them take entrepreneurs to people in order to participate in community and nation building. Amos said this is also an opportunity for people to be screened and check their health statuses.