22 Sep 2022

Six months post the Forbes Under 30 Summit that was held in Africa and hosted in Gaborone for the first time, one of the delegates has returned to Botswana to invest his knowledge.

Nikko TooGood, who is the founder of Black Authors Matter, said during the US based movement’s tour in Mochudi on September 19 that young people should be inspired to unearth their untold stories through publishing books.

He stated that the tour to Botswana, which includes 30 black American authors, was meant to encourage new and emerging authors to share their stories through publishing books.

When addressing secondary school learners in Mochudi, he said he felt the resolve to reach Batswana about the importance of brain power and knowledge.

“I am the curator of Black Authors Matter Tour and I want to use this platform to build synergies with Batswana writers to market them to the world. 

It is in this space of writing that we can create partnerships for black people to be seen, heard and exchange and make them become some of the best authors around the world,” he said

He said during the summit, it became evident that Botswana had so much to offer as was displayed through cultural ensembles, which remained unknown to the world.

“It was during the Forbes summit that I realised that a lot can be done in Botswana to challenge authors’, especially young people, to come out and share the stories that are embedded in their lives through iconography. 

In a nutshell, I decided to adopt this place,” he said.

TooGood said he imagined a great change that could be imparted in the lives of black authors, which would promote black literary culture.

“There is so much power in literature of writing down your own simple life stories that could make readers look at us from a different perspective. You can be self-employed within the space of just writing and publishing,” he said.

In that regard, he challenged young authors to tell stories about their culture and tell the world who they wanted to be.

DeBeers Group Botswana head of corporate affairs and outreach marketer, Pat Dambe said following DeBeers Group’s participation at the Forbes Under 30 Summit, as the anchor sponsor of President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s the vision, the feedback post the summit had been exceptional.

“This Black Authors Matter tour is a real testimony of what came out of hosting the Forbes Under 30 Summit, a conviction that the private sector partnership with government and the President’s Vision was falling into place through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs),” she stated.

She said TooGood, who owns a publishing house in Atlanta, USA, decided to reach out to DeBeers outreach programme to see if they could bring authors to Botswana to inspire Batswana on writing and give them mileage to share what they had published.

“For PPPs to bring capacity and relationships in business, education and networking opportunities for our own entrepreneurs is a welcome development,” she stressed

She revealed that TooGood was keen to set up a Batswana- owned entity in order to produce more Batswana authors.

Dambe also noted that DeBeers Group was happy to be part of the endeavour to support government and produce more entrepreneurs.

Kgatleng Regional Education director, Mothusi James said the Black Authors Matter tour was a good platform to encourage learners to develop the culture of reading and to also inspire learners to tell stories through publishing. 

The pupils were drawn from 10 secondary schools in the Kgatleng District to interact with the authors. Ends