BBC TECHNOLOGY SCOOP BCCB AWARD

BBC Technology was recognised by the BCCB, formerly British Consultants Bureau, as British Consultancy Firm of the Year, for work carried out by their Consulting & Projects division in setting up and launching Botswana’s first television station on behalf of the Botswana Government.
The award was presented at a BCCB ceremony to Andy Lewis, Director of Consulting & Projects and Simon Higman, who led the BBC team in Botswana, by HRH Duke of Gloucester, President of the BCCB and first cousin to HRH Queen Elizabeth.
BBC Technology were the unanimous winners in a large firms category, against tough competition including heavyweight consultancy firms such as WS Atkins, Mott MacDonald and Hyder Consulting.
BBC Technology’s Consulting & Project team began work on the £500,000 contract on June 1 last year, after the Botswana Government approached the BBC for help in saving their first television station which had failed to meet their launch deadline on a number of occasions. Following a visit to the station in the spring of 2000, a multi-disciplinary team from Consulting & Projects and other parts of the BBC went out at short notice to guide the local staff to launch Botswana Television on July 31, 2000.
Higman said: "Ten days before the launch, the general manager, who was to succeed me, and his colleagues laughed at the idea that the launch would take place on time. The government even cancelled plans for a lavish ceremony and speech by the President at the national stadium on launch day. So we booked the stadium and arranged a charity shield football match between the country’s two best teams, which attracted a bigger television audience on July 31 than the abandoned show would have done." (CD)