Kago Kgosietsile
Science and
Technology Parks are inherently networked physical places that are managed in a
manner designed to support university-industry and government collaboration
with the intent of creating high technology economic development and advancing
knowledge. Mainstream business
literature defines networking as a socioeconomic business activity by which business people and entrepreneurs meet to form business relationships and
to recognize, create, or act upon business opportunities, share information and seek potential
partners for ventures. Networking helps business people to build their social capital.
“Business
networking is an
effective low-cost marketing method for developing sales opportunities and
contacts, based on referrals and introductions - either face-to-face at
meetings and gatherings, or by other contact methods such as phone, email, and
increasingly social and business
networking websites,” says world-renowned author, marketing expert, start-up advisor, and public speaker, Porter
Gale.
In her book, Your Network Is Your Net Worth: Unlock the Hidden Power of
Connections for Wealth, Success, and Happiness in the Digital Age, Gale asserts
that a strong network is like money in the bank. “Networks can help one
build visibility, connect with influencers, and open up doors for new
opportunities. Building and nurturing a network is one of the most powerful
things one can do to support their career advancement or build business growth,”
she states.
Gale goes
on to say that businesses function when they have customers or clients, and
businesses survive and expand when they have good client service. Customer
service is an extremely important part of maintaining ongoing client
relationships, which are key to continuing revenue. Gale defines good client service as largely a matter of
placing the customer first and making business decisions that allow the company
to respond to market changes and provide customers with the best service
possible.
At
Botswana Innovation Hub, all employees are expected to contribute towards aquiring, enhancing, and retaining the
company’s clients.
However, the role of fostering
business networks and handling the wide variety of customer inquiries, providing issue resolution, client communication, and overall
customer satisfaction rests with Kago Kgosietsile. Buried
somewhere in the makeup of Botswana Innovation Hub cadre is this unsung heroine
who executes her duties quietly, calmly and diligently. Kago is the Client
Relations Officer at Botswana Innovation Hub. She is essentially responsible
for managing and protecting
the relationship between the company and its clients.
Botswana Innovation Hub is incorporated as a
company to develop and manage the country’s first Science and Technology Park. One
of the company’s strategic objectives is to promote networking and
collaboration between academia, public and private sectors in order to enhance
innovation capacity. The company strives, “To serve the people of Botswana
through a creative and networked innovation system which supports the goals of
strengthening knowledge, productivity, competitiveness and economic diversification,
leading to more resilient wealth creation, while being mindful to protect the
environment.”
Botswana Innovation Hub is a member driven company
which offers a suite of benefits for eligible registered members. The benefits
include a concessionary 15% corporate tax rate; access to a range of technology
transfer and commercialistation services; access to a technology entrepreneurship
development programme; eligibility to import skills and personnel under special
dispensation and networking, research and technical collaboration opportunities
locally and internationally.
Botswana Innovation Hub CEO Alan Boshwaen says,
“Networks and collaborations are the DNA of the company. They form the fabric of Botswana Innovation Hub
as they help business people connect with other managers and entrepreneurs to
further each other’s business interests by forming mutually beneficial business
relationships.” Boshwaen goes on to say as a part a pioneering outfit and
leader in the economic partnerships that drive development, good client, or customer, service should be the hallmark
of Botswana Innovation Hub.
Since joining Botswana Innovation Hub in July 2012,
Kago has worked tirelessly setting up processes and procedures that coordinate all
registration and Botswana Innovation Hub member support activities. Her duties
include developing and implementing best practices for registration and member
support in accordance with strategic and operational plans for Botswana
Innovation Hub. “I am responsible for processing applications and ensuring
effective registration of qualifying entities as well as coordinating,
monitoring and evaluating registered entities, including conducting annual site
visits and interviews to ensure compliance to registration requirements,” she
says.
“Building and managing strategic relationships with
internal and external stakeholders to ensure collaborative support in providing
an efficient and effective support network for member entities and continuous
review and research on services rendered to members as well as identifying
areas of improvements to service offering, forms part of my remit,” she states.
Kago goes on to say she is a people’s person and derives immense pleasure and
pride in her job which entails providing support to members and facilitating
communication between members and internal departments and arranging membership
network events working with the Cluster Development and Marketing departments.
Over and above all this, Kago liaises with the
broad membership of the International Association of Science Parks and Arears
of Innovation (IASP) which Botswana Innovation Hub is a member of, and conducts
research in order to continuously improve processes and procedures for
registration and member support initiatives. She facilitates administration of
labour and tax dispensation applications and maintains accurate and current
databases and client files.
Among the achievements Kago prides herself with is her
facilitation of the growth of Botswana Innovation Hub membership base from 17
fully registered members to a total 82 incubator, network and fully registered
members. She has also developed and implemented a Member Performance Monitoring
Tool, developed and implemented a Registration Manual including supporting
tools and templates and developed and implemented interim Client Relationship
Management database.
Kago completed her Cambridge O’ Levels
certification at Maru A Pula School in 1998. She went on to pursue an Advanced
Certificate in Personal Computer Applications from NIIT in 1999 and the
International Baccalaureate Diploma from United World Collage of the America
West in 2001. In 2006 Kago graduated with a Bachelor of Economics from Rhodes
University in South Africa and went on to acquire a Post Graduate Certificate
in Information Systems Management from University of Liverpool in 2011 before
crowning it all with an MSc in Information Systems from Kingston University in
the UK the same year.
With a quiet, unassuming but sure-footed and
foresighted demeanor Kago is alive to the omnipresence of the proverbial glass
ceiling women face in the corporate world. “While we all get equal opportunity,
it is an undeniable fact that women have to put in twice as much effort to make
it in the corporate world,” she says. A doting hands on mother of two, she says
mothers face enormous challenges juggling parenting with career development. Conversely
she brings her motherly instinct to her role of nurturing relationships at the
country’s cradle of scientific, technological and indigenous knowledge-based
innovation.
“Women in
the workplace face very strong cultural and career stereotypes that stifle
their professional and personal growth. It is a hectic balancing game for us
but I’m blessed with a strong role model in my mother and the support of my
family,” she says. Kago is thankful to her parents for instilling the virtues
of hard work ethic and integrity in her and her siblings. “The workplace gives
one the sense that you can’t have both family and career and that you have to
sacrifice one for the other but with focus, dedication and good support, the
delicate work, live balancing act is possible,” she states.
Kago’s
support for women empowerment is however qualified, she would rather women earn
their place in the sun through merit and not through tokenism. She acknowledges
that the empowerment of women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors is essential to
build stronger economies, achieve internationally agreed goals for development
and sustainability, and improve the quality of life for women, men, families and communities but cautions against
token appointments of women to positions of leadership.
Kago is a consummate result oriented, self-driven, team
player who sets high standards and approaches her work with a calm, gracious
but palpable gusto, passion and tenacity. She takes pride in her work and goes
beyond the call of duty to deliver exceptional client service and offer them
value beyond just services, “Because success in this industry is about much
more than services — it’s about developing great business relationships.
Customer service is the process of ensuring customer satisfaction with a great
service that ensures customer retention. Retaining our clients helps expand our
formal business networks and gives
us a larger and more dynamic pool of members who meet to share information,
exchange business leads and make referrals to fellow members,” she declares.
Asked what attributes are required for the pivotal role she plays at
Botswana Innovation Hub, she responds, “One has to be accessible, patient,
knowledgeable and courteous to do well in this role. Strong peoples skills which
help harness interdisciplinary efforts to solve problems is another important
attribute of a successful customer service representative.” And what motivates her to get up every
morning and give it her all? “This is certainly one of the best jobs ever. It
allows me to be part of a dynamic team of enthusiastic professionals who are
building the country’s first science and technology park. However, for me, the
technology entrepreneurship development programme is the most important aspect
of the Botswana Innovation Hub business model because it develops young people.
Working with young innovators and entrepreneurs is divine. Who doesn’t want to
work with young, animated, forward thinking, game changers? The energy,
creativity and zeal of the next generation of innovators, thinkers and
entrepreneurs that surrounds me here thoroughly excites me. Surely some of that
gets to rub off onto me…..” she quips.
Kago ends the interview by encouraging
the girl child and young women who want to enter the corporate world to work
hard and stay focused if they want to break through the corporate glass
ceiling. With a finger on the pulse of Botswana Innovation Hub’s clients, Kago
has intimate knowledge of its client’s welfare and with her formidable networks, smart and hard work
ethic, passion and commitment, attitude and aptitude, the young lady has
positioned herself well to ascend to the next generation of Botswana Innovation
Hub’s executive leadership (Exco). Who knows, we have the future head honcho in
the making here!
