Companies battle for Dubai spot
Ten local businesses on Friday completed the last hurdle of a competition in which one of them will be selected to participate at the Expo 2020 Dubai, which is currently underway.
The companies battling it out for the spot include Alosa Group Companies, Bio-Watt Botswana, Brastorne Entreprises, CRACKit Tuition, Afri Getaway, Croma Lifting Equipment store, Glotto, Kobe Twins, N&M Productions and Stol Petroleum.
As part of the selection process for the competition, which was developed by the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) dubbed ‘A Re Kopaneng Local Business Competition’, the competitors showcased their businesses in the form of a business pitch.
Launched last October by the country’s investment promotion agency, the competition aims to challenge local businesses to showcase their products and business acumen to identify one that can take advantage of the opportunities for engagements and business in Dubai.
BITC’s director of corporate affairs, Kutlo Moagi said as part of their marketing executions, a competition has been developed to create a key connection between the local audience and Botswana activities at Expo
2020 in Dubai. “We received about
42 entries. The first stage of judging took place at BITC on November 23,
2021, where
10 companies were
officially one step closer to going to Dubai,” she said. The judging panel included BITC board member, Bakang Palai, Stanbic Bank head of business and retail banking, Calistas Chijoro, Local Enterprise Authority head of corporate affairs, Boikhutso Kgomanyane and Tiroyamodimo Kayawe projects and product development head. They have the task of identifying the three companies making it to the next round. As part of the judging, the public will also be able to participate by voting for their favourite company. The judges results will be combined with the public votes and top three will be selected this week who will then battle it out for the spot to participate at Dubai.
Meanwhile, BITC recently revealed that they have already attracted multimillion pula investments at the ongoing Expo 2020 Dubai. Initially, they had targeted raking in P180 million in investment deals at the six-month expo.
Botswana is participating at the Expo 2020 Dubai to take advantage of the world stage based on the unique selling points. The expo is a unique business platform to attract investment, forge agreements and promote international cooperation. Currently, Botswana has a dedicated pavilion that showcases products proudly made in Botswana.
It also has a mini-shop that sells proudly made in Botswana products such as artefacts, clothing items, pottery items, baskets, leather products and a wide range of homemade products.