When Botswana Innovation Hub
evolved from a project office in the Ministry of Infrastructure Science and Technology
and Alan Phemelo Boshwaen was tasked with setting up Botswana Innovation Hub
company, he set out to establish a lean, agile, professional, motivated, high
performance outfit that would deliver a unique structure for professional
innovation support and help achieve local and regional economic development
objectives. Boshwaen put together an eclectic mix of youth and old hands from a
myriad of professional backgrounds to help him deliver on the company’s mandate.
With all the skills and expertise he could assemble, the challenge then was how
to get them to work together like a well-oiled machine to optimize the
company’s strategic objectives.
Along came Richard Molosiwa, a human
resource management practitioner with extensive work experience and glowing
academic credentials to boot. Molosiwa joined Botswana Innovation Hub as Human
Resources Manager in September 2013. His brief was to get the specific roles
and complementary talents and skills set of Botswana Innovation Hub’s staff aligned
to achieve the company’s strategic objectives. The establishment of Botswana’s
first science and technology park demands a high performance team and in the
eight months that Molosiwa has been with the company, he has set up a robust
human resource management policy that covers recruitment, training, talent
management, and performance appraisals and rewarding.
Molosiwa holds a Bachelor of Arts
degree (University of Botswana), Master of Business Leadership degree
(University of South Africa), Executive Development Program degree (University
of Cape Town) and Diploma in Company Direction (Graduate Institute of
Management and Technology). He has
worked extensively in the local corporate setting and ran a successful
consultancy firm before joining Botswana Innovation Hub.
A stanch Catholic who was taught
to go to church every Sunday and grew up harboring aspirations of becoming a
priest, Molosiwa says he is inspired by his mother who raised him and his
siblings from meager means and instilled the virtue of education in them. He points to the late Baledzi Gaolathe who
served as Governor of Bank of Botswana and Minister of Finance as his all-time
role model and mentor. He says he landed in his profession by ‘accident’, he
had chosen Labour Economics as a course in his final year at the University of
Botswana, the course was taught by a visiting professor who made him develop
interest in labour matters and upon graduating he worked for the Labour
Department. “I then made my way into real HR by joining the private sector
after two years in government. The rest is history,” he says.
On his impressions on the Botswana
Innovation Hubs mandate, Molosiwa says the company has a very ambitious mandate
which is doable as long as the team pulls together as one. He says the
challenge is to get the best out of the skills and competencies within the
different employees that constitute the company’s staff. “In simple terms, the
company must harness the different talents inherent in each employee in order
to achieve the company’s mandate,” he says.
Molosiwa went on to say, “So far I
have observed that the CEO is open minded on most issues and this should allow
the team members to make their voices heard and contribute to advancing the
Botswana Innovation Hub mandate. The other good point is the composition of the
Botswana Innovation Hub Board. It has a combination of well experienced
individuals and I believe this Board will drive the Botswana Innovation Hub
mandate to its successful implementation.”
Molosiwa is of the view that best
management practices recognize people as the number one resource and
organizations that are endowed with the best financial and other resources but
fail to optimise their human capital often struggle to realize their goal. He says,
“I enjoy interacting with people and HR is a natural place to be in. One learns
a lot by just listening to others and I have learnt to never judge an
individual by either their level in society or level of their education. Everyone
has something unique to contribute to this universe, no matter how small.”
Molosiwa leaves Botswana
Innovation Hub at the end of May to take up office at Khoemacau Copper Mining
Company. He is modest about his achievements at Botswana Innovation Hub and
downplays his achievements by insisting that it is up to his former colleagues
to determine whether he made a meaningful impact during his stay at the
company. “Eight months is a short time to achieve anything but I came into
Botswana Innovation Hub from a consultancy world where eight months is long
enough to achieve something,” he says.
In a small ceremony to bid him
farewell, CEO Boshwaen said Molosiwa distinguished himself by being the
embodiment of a high performance employee and setting up and implementing the
company’s HR policies in record time. He thanked Molosiwa for his invaluable
contribution to the success of the company and wished him well in his future
endeavors.
For his part, Molosiwa said, “The
future of Botswana innovation Hub is exciting and future success will be
determined by how much each employee contributes or is allowed to contribute.
The skills sets (competencies) at Botswana Innovation Hub are quiet diverse and
all have a part to play. The challenge is whether there is enough space made at
the ‘table of ideas’ to allow young and creative minds to participate in
shaping the future.” He emphasized his believe in the objectives of Botswana
Innovation Hub and said he will forever remain a Friend of the company.
Molosiwa is married Tebogo. The
couple have three children, a daughter and three sons. In their spare time, the
couple have turned a hobby into a thriving agribusiness. They run a successful
irrigation farming project outside Molepolole and have been named the preferred
farmers by the Shoprite Group that also owns Checkers and U-Save retailers. The
business which employs seven full time employees is doing so well Tebogo has quit
her job to run it on a full time basis.
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