HILTON’S #PUSHABW BRUNCH SHOWCASES TALENT
Hilton Garden Inn Gaborone has taken a lead in promoting and supporting local products through the #PushaBW brunch that showcased the best locally sourced innovative and creative goods and services from across Botswana.
Proudly Botswana brands showcasing their offerings included Tsina Tota, Nubian Seed, Le Afrika, Sweet Sensation and Keno Custom Suits, to name a few, with over 20 exhibitors in total.
The hotel’s general manager, Thabani Ndlovu, said the push for greater support, and investment in local brands and products, and indeed the wider local creative sector, remains a paramount aspect of Botswana’s economy recovery as local SMMEs are amongst the hardest hit from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In these challenging times, we have come to appreciate the power of working together with our fellow hospitality providers to fight the negative impact of the pandemic and thrive beyond it,” she said.
“The incredible number of local products and service providers under the #PushaBW banner are a part of that journey, and we are here to work together and support one another in the spirit of botho and tomagano. The #PushaBW Brunch, held in partnership with Brand Botswana, is just one effort towards this.”
The hotel has also ringfenced premium space within the premises for exhibitors, offering long-term exposure for artists to display their work, as well as increasing their commitment to use local products throughout the hotel, and sell these at the hotel’s Pavillion Pantry kiosk.
This is in addition to the local artwork display initiative launched at the hotel’s opening in 2019, featuring photography by local talents such as Pako Lesejane.
This is also adds to the kiosk situated within the hotel which sells local products.
The inaugural #PushaBW Brunch, hosted in partnership with Brand Botswana, Botswana Tourism and Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport & Culture Development.
#PushaBW, launched in 2018 as a campaign to rally Batswana to buy locally produced goods and services was last week revamped and re-introduced as a Forum at the Global Expo 2020.
This saw Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Peggy Serame urge Batswana to embrace and support the initiative as a means towards further development and sustainability of SMMEs and the economy at large.
Botswana Tourism Organisation has come on board to highlight that ecotourism in Botswana is one of the tools designed to achieve improved livelihoods within local communities, as well as conservation of natural resources. Ecotourism provides not only job opportunities for residents in and around a community, but also a market for local products and services.