On Monday, 12 February 2024 at the Regent Hotel in Gaborone, there was a new dawn of hope and encouragement as the 2nd annual Botswana Women Sports Awards (BWSA) received a major boost when VUNANI Fund Managers were announced as the headline sponsor for the awards for a consecutive 3-year term at P200, 000 per edition, amounting to a staggering P600, 000. The awards which are a brainchild of sports administrators stalwarts, Portia Mlilo and Kesego Okie under their publication, InsideBW Sports Women Magazine started in 2023 and have since became an annual recognition of women in sports.
When speaking to the media at the unveiling of the sponsorship, Vunani Fund Managers’ Business Development Manager, Obakeng Mmusinyane highlighted that the awards are very much aligned to the company’s strategy of supporting sporting activities such as swimming and cycling among other partnerships.
He said, “gender parity remains a priority globally, challenging all of us to play active roles in addressing it and sports is one of the sectors that still need multi sectoral collaborations towards closing the gender gap. I therefore recognize all the stakeholders who are immensely engaged. The annual Botswana Sports Women Awards (BSWA) certainly provides hope and encouragement that one day Botswana will be credited for prioritizing sports”.
According to the InsideBW Women Sports Magazine CEO and awards coordinator, Okie, the 2nd edition of the Annual Botswana Women Sports Awards will be held on the 23rd of March 2024, most likely at Lekidi Football Centre. She further emphasized that the awards are a testimony to excellence as the recipients of the awards were also awarded by the national sports awards dubbed Botswana Sports Awards – a validation that the awards criterion and facilitators were firm and spot on deserving athletes.
Meanwhile boxer, Lethabo Modukanele, the former BWSA sports person of the year said, “It is a huge honor to be the inaugural sports woman of the year of the BWSA. I never fully conceptualized the awards for sports women in Botswana. It is motivating to be given the honor. These awards, with the help of the corporate sector will go a long way to getting bigger and better. We need the likes of Vunani in the industry, as an athlete, i know what it means to be motivated in this manner.”
