[bctt tweet=”Kagiso Madibana driving the change she wants to see with social entrepreneurship” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”]
Kagiso Madibana is a social entrepreneur and a former Chevening Scholar. She was selected as a participant from Botswana for the African Union’s Youth & Gender summit. In September 2016, Mail & Guardian Africa and Gabz FM named her as one of the 50 Batswana Change-makers under 40.
Kagiso is a founder/chairperson of Nayang Association. Nayang aids and empowers the underprivileged, in remote areas through a school clothing, shoes, food, and sanitary pad drive. With an MA in Communications and Media from Cardiff University, she has also worked as a Lead Researcher for Botswana with Global Integrity/Mo Ibrahim for their Africa Integrity Indicators study.
Before that, Kagiso had worked as a print journalist since 2008, during that time she was selected to join the International Journalist Programme(IJP)and was placed with the Deutsche Welle in Germany. Kagiso was also a part of the Women In News Programme from WAN-IFRA. She owns a small communications company called MD Africa Communications which offers editing and proof-reading services for companies amongst other things.
Last year, she self-published a fiction book, “Tales from the Heart of Botswana: Baareng’s Journey” which is available on Amazon and select stores in Botswana.
What would you say is the innovative idea behind Nayang Association and starting MD Communications?
Nayang and MD Communications were birthed from youth driving the change they wanted to see in their communities.
In my case, spearheading the initiative was a chance to get young people involved in contributing to their communities through social work. I also wanted to inspire young people to tell their stories. I wanted us to tell stories that any Motswana or African can relate to.
How did you go about growing your “brand” and impact to run a social enterprise and become self-sustaining?
At the beginning, Nayang Association was dependent on donations and membership fees for us to meet our mandate. We have since moved from that to intensive fund-raising strategies which require innovative thinking and new approaches to show our growth.
[bctt tweet=”Using innovative thinking & new approaches Kagiso Madibana shows the growth of her projects” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”]
We organize yoga sessions, workshops and hiking sessions in the country’s hottest tourist attractions. We also collaborate with other organisations and youth ventures that want to make a difference in the community. Our biggest challenge in the first few months was consistency, something we could not have due to a shortage of funds but we worked on that and we are trying to find ways of becoming a sustainable entity.
What four skills have you found yourself learning frequently since starting your social enterprise and publishing a book?
- I am learning to become more assertive about public speaking.
- Also, I am learning how to network strategically and make the right connections for any project that I am undertaking.
- I have accepted that I don’t know everything and I listen more, especially to people who are in the same industry. I always pick up valuable lessons on how to best improve our everyday operations at Nayang.
- Finally, I have learnt that delegating tasks and commending the people you work with is important for the growth of your organisation.
What challenges have you faced that are unique to your business and writing a book?
We had to start our project from scratch with nothing and ask the public to get involved. People are skeptical because we have had scams and a lot of community-based projects have failed due to mismanagement. So initially, it was tough to get the support and have people believe in what we wanted to do. We had to prove ourselves first so that required a great deal of financial sacrifices.
[bctt tweet=”We had to start our project with nothing and ask the public to get involved @otwngal” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”]
As a self-published author, I struggled to get my books into an already fraught reading nation. The reading demographic, especially for fiction books, has changed and I had to adapt. Instead of the traditional bookstores which are only available in towns and cities, I had to take my books to Choppies, a chain store that has a presence in most areas of Botswana. This of course also comes at a cost.
In what ways have you diversified your product to suit your market? Especially considering the Botswana context?
Nayang plans activities across Botswana as we want to bring attention to the beauty of the country. We use hashtags such as #VisitBotswana #HikeBotswana #Buildingcommunities on social media platforms because we want the average Motswana to know that they are not only contributing to a great cause but also that they are developing a sense of pride about being a Motswana.
My book, “Tales from the Heart of Botswana: Baareng’s Journey” is a book of untold stories of hope. Any Motswana who grew up in Botswana is able to relate to the stories and feel a sense of belonging. My intention with the book was to inspire through fiction. Ensuring that the book is available for any Motswana to access, whether you are in Mochudi or Shorobe has been my biggest priority.
In both areas, social media and traditional media have been a great platform for me and the team to reach out to the community. This is the main reason why I started the MD Africa Communications company which deals with everything from social media management to Media relations and CSR project management.
With running so many projects, what do you do to unwind?
I watch Isibaya and every TV show known to man, I see myself as a Shonda Rhimes someday. I look up to Ferguson Films productions as well.
Reading is obviously a hobby! I also love travelling, hiking and adventure sports.
Some people want to write a book or start-up social enterprises, how would you advise them?
Believe in your product and create your own hype!
Start, that’s always the hardest part. Funding should never be a reason for you to delay implementation otherwise you never will follow up on your ideas.
[bctt tweet=”Funding should never be a reason to delay otherwise you never will follow up on your ideas” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”]
Who inspires you?
Any young person willing to take a risk, as well as successful entrepreneurs who are not afraid to talk about their failures. Many times we don’t know about the financial struggles they went through in their transition to where they are today.
If you’d like to share your story with She Leads Africa, let us know more about you and your story here.