Boi Kgathi Rasmussen is CEO & Founder of Y-BECA Youth Entrepreneurship Foundation, Author of Brighter Futures for Young Entrepreneurs, Co-Founder of The SproutHub Marketing & Innovation Consulting Company, Co-Founder of Startup Nation Botswana and Startup Coach at the Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

Her work at Y-BECA involves charting the direction and leading the implementation and advancement of the Organisation’s mission. Y-BECA’s mission is to address the economic challenges of unemployed youth in South Africa and The Netherlands by educating them on innovation and entrepreneurship – and providing them with tools and guidance to create their own businesses. At The SproutHub, her company advises various global and regional clients on their marketing and innovation challenges. She coaches Startup companies and provides workshops for the Students of the Minor Entrepreneurship at the Amsterdam Business School.

Recently, Boi teamed up with her former high-school classmate and friend of 25 years (Francisco Malesela Kgoboko), with whom she shares a passion for economic development of her home country, Botswana and the African continent - to found Startup Nation Botswana. Startup Nation Botswana is an ambitious startup that is set to power up African built and led innovations while raising the flag and representing Botswana to the world. It offers an accelerator program that scales up existing startups in Botswana and Africa, organises what is set to be the largest Clean-Tech Summit in Africa and last but not least, runs an innovation factory set to bring the best technologies to solve local needs in Botswana.

Her new book, Brighter Futures for Young Entrepreneurs, was launched in November 2016. The book is a basic introduction to innovation for high school and university students that are curious about entrepreneurship but lack knowledge of where and how to start. It is intended to be a step-by-step guide for how to identify problems in society and match those problems with (business) solutions, thus creating business ideas that are based on people’s wishes, wants or needs. It is currently available on Amazon.com, Amazon Europe and various online bookstores.

She is passionate about entrepreneurship and youth empowerment. She believes that one way to help people sustain themselves economically is to empower them to create their own opportunities. That way, they can be less dependent on aid or handouts.

Boi started off her career as a young entrepreneur in Durban, South Africa, where she created a successful Advertising Agency. She was fresh out of school and struggled to get a job, then decided to not only create her own employment opportunity but to do so for other young people with the same struggle. Her business went on to employ around fifteen (15) young people. She learned first hand the economic and social impact that entrepreneurship can bring about.

She has worked for global companies in Marketing, Innovation and Marketing Capability Development. These include: Philips, DDB Amsterdam, Saatchi & Saatchi Cape Town. Some of the global products she has worked on include: Diageo’s Malta GUINNESS, several global, European and South African brands of the FMCG giant Unilever and consumer electronics products across the Floor Care, Garment Care and Kitchen Appliances categories at Philips. She holds a Masters Degree in International Communication Management from The Hague University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands.

Boi was born in Botswana and has family roots in South Africa. She lives in The Netherlands. Boi is a fan of Tennis, Tech Gadgets, Startups and Books.