Creative Business Cup winner gains global business insight
I got the chance to network and meet different entrepreneurs and experts. I also got to learn more about improving my business from benchmarking.
The winner of this year’s Creative Business Cup Botswana, Chawapiwa Maposa of Creative Cart, recently returned from Copenhagen, Denmark, where she represented Botswana at the global finale of the Creative Cup. Maposa is the sixth winner from Botswana since the competition started several years ago. Maposa’s journey in the competition started in March this year and came to a close with the Denmark trip earlier this month.
After the process of screening earlier this year with the selection of nine finalists from the submitted promising start- ups at the Stanbic Accelerator in May, where the finalists went through another round of assessments and the winner was selected.
Creative Cart was established by Maposa to provide creative training and services, aiming to promote sustainable visual arts, and to bridge the gap between art creators and consumers.
The services of Creative Cart also include curating exhibitions where artists are properly positioned to interact with relevant attendees and collectors, organising creative workshops that teach artists how to promote their work sustainably and profitably and also provide consultation and branding services to artists. The competition this year was sponsored by Stanbic Bank and Morac Capital, who sponsored both the competition and the over- all trip to Denmark for the winner.
The Creative Business Cup is the global initiative for entrepreneurship and innovation. Every year in June/ July, the finales bring together the national winners from more than 80 countries from all over the world, and also attracted keynote speakers, judges and investors for the BRIGHT Forum.
The national winners were also given the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a panel of jurors with the hope to be selected as the overall winner. During the pitching and competition platform, the participants are also given the chance to grow their network, gain global exposure and be inspired by all the creative professionals in attendance. Maposa emerged the overall winner and the jury said that they selected her on account of her unique concept and also her persistence, capability, creativity and eloquence. While she did not win the global finals, she said that the experience was worthwhile.
“I got the chance to network and meet different entrepreneurs and experts. I also got to learn more about improving my business from benchmarking. The overall experience was insightful and a learning curve for my career. The travelling opportunity also gave me a chance to see more of the world and that was a fulfilling experience.”
Before her departure to Denmark, Maposa was given the chance to participate in the Creative Business Academy, which offers a series of sessions aimed at both preparing the national winners for the global finals as well as improving their business acumen.
The Creative Business Academy is a series of sessions aimed both at preparing the national winners for the global finals as well as improving their overall business acumen. Brainstorming and creativity for product development, business modelling, pitch training, business storytelling and creative marketing, which are all facilitated by various industry experts from all over the world.