Mining expo swaps F/town for Jwaneng
For the first time in its short history, The Trade Up North exhibition heads south, with the show set to debut in the mining town of Jwaneng on Tuesday 21 February.
Hosted by Soapbox Communications, the biannual event, which has previously been held twice in Francistown, presents the latest technologies and machinery in the mining world.
According to the brains behind the expo, Vuyiswa Mojela, the plan is to help Botswana link up with a range of countries and create a broad knowledge platform in minerals development.
The theme for this year’s edition, ‘Manufacturing and Production: the only way out of our Economic Predicament’ focuses on how to escape the financial slump caused by Covid-19 and the global economic recession.
“The theme is about leveraging modern technology to counter the effects of these two negative occurrences. Secondly, the world is in the period of digital transformation which has been fast-tracked by Covid-19 hence the need to expose Botswana to new technologies to enable this transformation,” said Mojela, who proudly stands as the first and only woman to host a Mining Exhibition in Botswana.
Outlining what else to expect from the one-day event, she told Voice Money, “The seminars are part of the show and this is where experts in the sector are invited to make presentations on the latest trends and technology in the industry. We have invited international experts to come and share their knowledge with Batswana.”
As for the decision to swap the second city for Jwaneng, Mojela explained that once they decided to go south, it was a no-brainer to pick Jwaneng, home to Debswana’s flagship mine.
“This is the world’s richest diamond mine by value and contributes 60-70 percent of Debswana’s total revenue and it made sense to bring the world suppliers of latest technologies to this area,” she stressed.
Some of the notable exhibitors on the day include: Debswana, ABSA Bank, Ministry of Entrepreneurship, Botswana Digital and Innovation Hub, Setup A Startup (South Africa), Production Technologies Association Of South Africa (South Africa), Zimbabwe Institute of Foundries and Naledi Motors.
