Nthatuoa Koeshe

TELECOMUNICATIONS giant, Econet Lesotho, through its mobile money platform, Ecocash, has embarked onto a drive to promote local brands by rewarding people who wear them.

The initiative is social media based and those who don local brands are expected to post pictures on either Facebook or Instagram and one who gets the most likes wins.

Econet is working with local brand Bonono Merchants for the competition which started on 29 March 2019 and ends on Friday. Interested parties must post their pictures using both Bonono and Econet hashtags to enter the competition.

Two contestants stand a chance to win prizes with the first prize being a Bonono bag worth M700 while the second prize is M500.

Econet Services General Manager, Motebang Moeketsi said although this would be the company’s first time to participate in such an initiative, they intend to continue promoting local brands.

“This initiative came about when we were trying to explore how best we can promote local brands and because we have seen the great work that Bonono Merchants has been doing, we thought we should pilot this with them,” Moeketsi said.

He said the aim behind the competition was to support local brands by giving them as much exposure on social media as possible while at the same time promoting Ecocash

“Participants have to register with Ecocash in case they win because the prize money will be transferred through our Ecocash payment platform.”

Founder and creative director of Bonono, Chere Mongangane said it was vital that the two companies have demonstrated that collaborations are possible with the corporate sector despite their lines of business being totally different.

“We are able to bridge these gaps because at the end of the day there are clients who are both a Bonono supporters and Econet subscribers and that’s the collaboration we need in order to grow,” Mongangane said.

He also said it was also important factor is giving local photographers and models a chance to contribute their value chain by participating in the initiative.

“Econet has afforded us an opportunity to share our work with their broad client base and social media followers who would otherwise take a while to give us an eye and we hope this will reflect on our sales,” Mongangane said.

Bonono Merchants is a clothing brand which takes a positive approach to timeless trends in fashion and design.