In a letter seen by BW TechZone, Mooketsi Bennedict Tekere has tendered his resignation from the advisory council of Stanbic Bank Botswana's Acceler8.
In the letter, Tekere states that after being invited to the April 2019 town hall meeting held by President Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi where billionaire entrepreneur Strivi Masiyiwa was the main guest, he was invited to a closed-room roundtable where he met the then ex-CEO of Stanbic Bank Botswana who, at a later date, appoint Tekere to his advisory council for his new vision of an innovative hub in Botswana that would support startups in the country.
Tekere further alleges that in the interaction with the ex-CEO, to support that vision, he appointed Tekere's company Ngwana Africa to organize and host the 3x3x3 Scale Up Residency, where it handpicked Botswana's top innovators and provided them the tools, resources, networks and access to smart capital. Seeing the promising future of the partnership, PR of the bank allegedly recommended this project as a flagship.
Along the way, Tekere states that he learnt that the head of the Acceler8 was not interested in the residency project and when he asked for reasons why, he was unceremoniously told "not [if its] YOU!"
Wanting to move his concerns up the bank's hierarchy, Tekere says he then approached the then recently appointed new Motswana CEO of the bank to get a picture of the new Motswana CEO of the bank his vision and how aims to support the project.
Tekere says after having his meeting appointments cancelled 5 times, he was afforded a meeting he alleges that he asked the bank CEO for their strategy for the Acceler8 after which he [Tekere] was reportedly asked by the CEO, "who are you wena to ask for our strategy!". Tekere says he responded by saying he was within reason to make that request as a member of the advisory board.
In the lengthy resignation letter, Tekere alleges that the Stanbic Bank Acceler8, which opened its doors in November 2019 and is described as a "youth business incubator" offering youth mentorship and entrepreneurial training and resources, has an annual budget of more than P4 million of which spends 60% is spent on rental and media.
Despite the alleged media spend, Tekere stated that the facility does not have any social media pages or a website.
BW TechZone did further research and did not find any Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram page or website associated with or owned by Stanbic Bank Botswana Acceler8. Only an auto-generated Facebook page with 266 followers was found.