Molapo Crossing Mall boss, Vandecasteele is an architect who has a very strong faith in creativity and willing to give local creative minds from different forms a platform where they cannot only make money for themselves but sell their creativity abroad whilst also boosting the country's economy.
He explained that building a Creative Hub was serious business certainly if one wanted to do that in Gaborone. “Let me explain what I understand by creativity. I call it the ability to think in a de-constructive manner and design a solution thereafter.
Creativity is the ability to think past a solution and see what can be done, regardless of the difficulty to get there. Creativity is an absolute must for anyone that wants to succeed in business, for he or she will meet problems that are unique and need a unique solution. If you copy a solution, chances are slim that your company will make it.
I am on record as saying that Botswana only manufactures bad copies, and hope that I am terribly wrong,” he said. He further pointed out that if Botswana wants to diversify its economy, and government really pushes for that, they would need creative people that can think out of the box and get the opportunity to do so. He explained that he started the conversion to the Creative Hub sometimes last year, when the plan was hatched to build a theatre. He said he brought drama to Gaborone a number of times and found that support for it was non-existent.
But that did not stop him from dreaming. He said it rather motivated him to make the dream come true. Currently, they have a theatre that sits up to 120 people and boast a phenomenal acoustic. It has been used as television studio.
He added that they would not rest until it gets fully used. To support the dance fraternity, Vandecasteele said they built two dance studios aside the theatre adding that those too were still under utilised.
“The planned Creative Hub is our attempt to bring the creative community together. By doing so we trust we will be able to create sparks amongst them that may lead to the production of some fantastic products.
Putting creatives together shall assist them to meet mind-like people and create the required synergy to produce new products that hopefully can put Botswana on the world map.
The introduction of a whole string of studios will attracts all sorts of professions that will for the first time be able to mingle and use the combined multitude of studios to develop their dream,” he explained.
He also said they would provide a space where people make things, rather than talk about thing, provide the environment that entices out of the box thinking and provide the environment that provokes change and promotes it. He added that they trusted that gallery, managed by young citizen entrepreneurs, would be a small step in making their dream come true.
He added that they aspired to expand the mall further and add more not only encompass creative minds but will be used for leisure such as beaches, coding rooms, design studios with 3D and or 2D printing and laser cutting, design studio.
