Itumeleng Garebatshabe.(PIC.KENNEDY RAMOKONE)
Intellegere Music t/a BWMADE hosted a demonstration at the First Steps Venture Centre to take media through their new online store platform. The workshop was hosted by Itumeleng Garebatshabe, the CEO of Intellegere Holdings.
“BWMADE is a revolutionary new platform that features 5 different digital shops to address various types of products that Batswana have to sell. The shops will address the Music, Film, Book, Fashion and Craft Industries. We live in an age where the world is our market and BWMADE is a portal that brings this market directly to our retailers,” said Garebatshabe.
The digital shop platform was created in response to several challenges faced by Batswana in creative fields trying to get their product out to wider markets; for instance in the music industry, digital proves to be an efficient way of distributing music. Botswana fashion designers would be able to take advantage of keeping their overheads low by not having to pay rent for a physical boutique for instance. The handicraft artisans would be able to share their wares with African art lovers globally.
An annual subscription model is expected to help sustain BWMADE which gives retailers the security to know that their store stays open 24 hours a day. There will be small variations in the subscription models for the different industries, in line with their particular needs. The digital music store will for instance offer artists a subscription rate of P1000 per album with a discount of 20% for artists who post 5 or more albums. The artist will retain 100% of the fees from sales as well as retain the copyright to their music.
For customers there are 10 payment methods which the digital store offers, making it a highly accessible service. Payment methods will include being able to pay through credit card, selected debit cards, mobile money platforms like MyZaka and Orange Money, as well as through the Post Office and electronic transfers.
“Besides giving Botswana creative industry a platform to share their products with the world, we aim to create at least 20 – 40 jobs in marketing, store management, website maintenance,” said Garebatshabe.
“Looking to the future BWMADE has much potential for growth in Africa, where we are even looking at tapping into the 106 million Orange customer base on the continent. This is possible through our interface with the Orange billing system which can be accessed across 13 African countries. We are very proud to be able to bring the best of Botswana creative products to Africa and the world.”
Intellegere Music t/a BWMADE is a startup company under the Intellegere Holdings Group of Companies. It is the first company setup under #Project120, which is aimed at setting up 120 tech start-up companies in Botswana.
