Legacy magazine 1.0

Page 63

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One might ask about the background of such an accomplished man. Mosienyane was born and raised in Lentswe-le-Moriti, a free hold area bought by the Zion Christian Church for its followers to openly practice their faith. During his childhood Lentswe-le-Moriti was a small community of fifteen families with minimal developments. It sits inside the Northern Tuli Game Reserve. Currently the village has a population of nearly 500 people and about 90 households. Despite a proletariat upbringing Mosienyane defied its limitations. He drew inspiration from his father, a commercial farmer and entrepreneur who founded

the only school in the village, something that reflected positively in Mosienyane’s educational background. “My father was an educationist, he was my inspiration and the foundation of my passion for academics,” he says. His father also influenced his career path. “He always told me that I will be a builder, so I knew I was headed for a career in that space or anything related to that”. Lekwalo completed his primary education in 1972 and proceeded to Moeding College in 1973 until 1977. He said that it was during those days that his ambitions of leadership showed and passion for design and architecture emanated. After Moeding, it became clear to Mosienyane that architecture was his true-calling. He enrolled at the University of Botswana but dropped out after three months because the university did not offer fine art, a decision which landed him in Maruapula School to read for A-level commonly known as form six. “Maruapula only admitted the best and my BGCSE results did the talking for me,” he says. His two year study at Maruapula illuminated his quest and opened doors for a thrilling architectural career; he graduated with an O level and an exceptional art portfolio which was a pre-requisite for admission into the best schools of architecture and design. From Maruapula, Mosienyane was accepted in Plymouth School of Art & Design in the United Kingdom and graduated with distinction in 1983. After graduating he started practicing at a leading firm, Shankland Cox in UK for a year before he headed to Oxford University. Mosienyane successfully completed his Post Graduate Diploma from Oxford and his exceptional performance earned him a Masters program scholarship in Urban Design in the same University. As a reputable businessman with interests in a number of business ventures Mosienyane values the role of education. He posits that ‘skills mismatch’ is not a misaligned view but what rather exists is the lack of space where graduates can be incubated and developed into professionals. “Graduates are academics not skilled people,” says Mosienyane. He advocated for deliberate government policies that can develop a private sector with the capacity to skill graduates and turn them into professionals. “Educating someone is not skilling them, so you can’t talk about skills mismatch.” He believes that Government does not create jobs but rather creates and facilitate a conducive environment for the private sector to do so. “Government doesn’t create jobs, as a matter of fact government should shrink and give more space for


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