Sethebe Manake

Sethebe Manake is a Botswanan Tech entrepreneur. She is an ambitious, self driven individual, who is passionate about e-commerce, entrepreneurship and SME development and she has founded businesses in real estate, proptech, entrepreneurship development and mentoring. Sethebe sits on various boards sharing her knowledge on her areas of expertise and involvement.Having a strong and dynamic business orientation a strong head on her shoulders, she has driven and continues to drive various initiatives in both the start up and real estate communities. Through her work, she champions the idea that real estate must be inclusive, transparent, and a driver of economic growth for African communities. Her influence has earned her recognition among Africa’s rising female entrepreneurs in real estate and technology.

Quotes

• The challenge I found in practise and corporate were the same, there wasn’t enough information for us to make certain decisions in the areas that we were investing in especially those areas we weren’t familiar with.Manake on the challenges in the real estate industry in Africa

• It became very clear to me that technology would be a great influence on decision making and it was more efficient in terms of delivery of information for our target market as a business. That’s really how I got into proptech.Manake on her Technological approcah to real estate

• We have dealt with a lot of negative conception and slow adoption to this solution, especially from real estate professionals some of whom are averse to technology.Manake on the challenges her approach faced

• If I did not believe it would change I would not be in business. Property evaluation is basically about predictive analytics so the technology works out better. Over time, as we gain must trust, information becomes more transparent, and more transactions can be done. It just makes more sense that people begin to move in the direction of logic than the other direction.Manake on the accceptabilitu of her approach

• As a woman in tech, my greatest obstacle has been communication because people believe women are not tech experts.Manake on gender discrimination in the TECH space

• I will need to talk about the bigotry and sexual harassment women have to face for men to just sign a document. They usually want to have a conversation different from your work, and it is a major challenge to progress.Manake on the challenges women in STEM face

• “Stick to your guns,don’t lean back, don’t give space, take space. whatever level of capability you have as a woman, the man around you doesn’t necessarily have more, so, stop looking at them as the people who need to guide us."Manake's advice to women in TECH

• "Women have been taught that somebody else knows more and that person needs to guide them but it doesn’t matter. But, let’s all get in and dominate because we can.”Manake's advice to african women in STEM

• Technology would be a great influence on decision making and it was more efficient in terms of delivery of information…” — explaining how tech became central to her real estate solution.[1]