Botswana can play a role in helping to grow Accenture's business across Africa—that's the belief of Genovefa Selotlegeng.
After training overseas, she returned to her home country to make a contribution to its economy and development, seeing Accenture as one of the catalysts for that growth. As her role in Accenture has grown, so has her belief in the role the company can play locally and continentally. "Botswana is playing a more and more significant role in Accenture, and can be a blueprint for new offices as we open them," she predicts.
Selotlegeng is a manager in Accenture's office in Botswana's capital Gaborone, which opened in 2005. Her area of specialty is financial services, honed at previous employers such as Standard Chartered Bank which, in 1997, awarded her one of only four scholarships offered for African students to study in Singapore.
After completing a two-year programme in marketing and business at a Singapore polytechnic, Selotlegeng moved to the United States to complete a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration in international business. She then returned to Botswana fired with the desire to plough back the skills she had gained: "Home is home and I want to be part of the generation that makes a difference by helping to develop my country." Outside of her busy business life, she plays a role in mentoring young girls to ensure they enter the business world.
Accenture prides itself on being a global company and Selotlegeng is eloquent about the benefits of this mindset. "I just can't believe how much support we get from our colleagues all round the world," she says. "Whether it's by phone, video or even in responding to requests for specialist input on bulletin boards, it's easy for us to tap into this huge network of knowledge—and it responds to us. We are always given what we need to sign the deal and then to help our clients achieve high performance."
With that kind of support, Selotlegeng is confident about the future. For her, the consultant's role offers the tremendous job satisfaction of learning a new business intimately and then seeing the results of her work in improved performance. "You need to be patient to see your interventions come to fruition," she says, "but when they do, it's an amazing feeling to realize you contributed to that success."