Botswana Innovation Hub is incorporated as a company to develop and operate Botswana’s first Science and Technology Park to create an environment that supports start-ups and existing local companies as well as attract international companies and institutions to develop and grow competitive technology driven and knowledge based businesses. We contribute to the country’s economic development and competitiveness by creating new scientific, technological, and indigenous knowledge-based business opportunities. We add value to existing companies, foster entrepreneurship and technology transfer, generate knowledge-based jobs, and attract innovative companies and institutions to Botswana Innovation Hub.

The National Commission of Research, Science and Technology of Namibia (NCRST) was established in terms of section 4 of the Research, Science and Technology Act, 2004 (Act no 23 of 2004). The NCRST fosters excellence through knowledge and innovation by ensuring adequate coordination, monitoring and supervision of research, science and technology in Namibia. Furthermore, the NCRST’s mandate requires it to actively promote and develop research, science and technology within Namibia and amongst various stakeholders. The Commission’s strategic themes are centered around 1. Operational Excellence, 2. Organizational Sustainability, 3. Strategic Partnerships and 4. Innovation Excellence. The NCRST further strives to provide direction and policy guidance to the research, science and technology innovation systems in Namibia to ensure growth towards socio-economic advancement and a knowledge society.

TIA is a national public entity that serves as the key institutional intervention to bridge the innovation chasm between research and development from higher education institutions, science councils, public entities, and private sector, and commercialisation. TIA’s focus is on technology development; from proof of concept to the pre commercialisation. To achieve this, TIA established the following funds: the Seed Fund, the Technology Development Fund and the Commercialisation Support Fund.

The Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology(COSTECH) is a parastatal organization under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. It is entrusted with the responsibility of coordinating and promoting research and technology development activities in Tanzania. It is the chief advisor to the government on all matters pertaining to science, technology and innovation and their application to the socioeconomic development of the country.

National Technology Business Centre is a government institution under the Ministry of Higher Education in Zambia. It was enacted by the Science and Technology Act No. 26 of 1997, and Statutory Instrument No. 136 of 1999. NTBC was step up to facilitate the development and transfer of technologies, and commercialisation of innovative products for creation of wealth and employment. This mandate entails the agency to play an intermediary role between the industry and innovation/technology developers.

The Namibia Business Innovation Institute (NBII), formerly known as Namibia Business Innovation Centre (NBIC) was established in 2009 as a Centre of Excellence at the Polytechnic of Namibia, now known as Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) with the task of implementing innovation in Namibia. We are a national leader in research, entrepreneurship and innovation. We develop ways in getting your insight from idea to marketplace by helping you to navigate the innovation process. NBII operates through four pillars namely: Innovation Marketplace (I’M), Entrepreneurship and Incubation (E&I), Research and Development (R&D) as well as the RLabs Namibia project.

Buni hub is a tech co-creation, working space found in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Buni hub is focused on promoting innovation and technology entrepreneurship in Tanzania. The hub was the first innovation space to be established in Tanzania as part of the TANZICT project, a bilateral project between the government of United Republic of Tanzania and the Finnish government. Buni is home to over 350 young Tanzanians who are active members of the space. Over 60 per cent are college students. Since its launching in November 2011, Buni has received over 6000 registration requests from various Tanzanian youths registering to use the space.

mLab Southern Africa (Mobile Applications Laboratory NPC)’ was founded in 2012. We support the development of South Africa’s digital advantage through specialised services for digital-tech entrepreneurs and mobile solution developers alike. Based in South Africas Gauteng (HQ) and Western Cape provinces, the mLab has new labs launching in Limpopo,Northern Cape and Mpumalanga as well as a number of collaborative activities in Southern African countries. We place great importance on socioeconomic development and impact within the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector and achieves this through 3 core programmes; Enterprise Development, Skills Development and Innovation Management.

BongoHive is Zambia’s first technology and innovation hub. Established in May 2011, based in Lusaka, the co-founders, all enthusiastic programmers, sought to address the gaps they experienced working within the local technology industry leading to a lack of coordination, skills exposure and productivity. BongoHive has evolved to assist scalable startups of any background by enhancing skills, accelerating growth, strengthening networks, increasing collaboration, providing a forum for ideas exchange and reducing the barriers to entrepreneurship.

Nest Hubs is an entrepreneurial hub with the Vision of seeing a functioning cycle between conceiving, creating, building and commercializing ideas that bring solutions to Africa’s challenges. The hub aims to achieve this through developing, operating and managing a system where SME development, Human Capital development and Venture Capital Impact investing interact in a seamless synergy with outputs of skills deployment and job creation.

The SA Innovation Summit and its foundation aims to support and expand innovation outcomes in universities, government institutions, private sector, garages and kitchens. The Summit is an important platform that teaches, connects and showcases great ideas with and in

the market. From idea to market is our motto. We find and enable ideas that make a difference to successfully grow into companies that can create jobs and make a social impact.

Southern Africa Startup Awards www.southernafricastartupawards.com is a circuit of Global Startup Awards. It is the first annual award to celebrate and recognize the spirit of innovation and achievement in the startup ecosystem in Southern Africa (SADC) by connecting regional ecosystem for global visibility.

Working with local and national partners in each region, we go on an annual expedition to find those companies and individuals that within the last 5 years have gone on to become a game changer or inspiration to thousands.

Our first edition was launched in 2018 with over 3200 participants from 15 Countries in 15 Categories.Our Grand Finale saw 15 winners walk away with prizes that includes Investment or scaling deals. A free website development and services worth R150k  was awarded to each of the 15 winners.  Our Mission is to celebrate, support/ enable startups and connect them to potential investors.

WEAC is a women's entrepreneurship hub that provides access to education, technology, training and vital economically empowering resources to early-stage and existing female-owned businesses, enabling them to move from the informal sector into the formal sector. Our programme is designed to address gender barriers to entrepreneurship and advance gender equality through a portfolio of innovative business growth programs, tools, and events created to reduce the time it takes for women to go to market. WEAC's collaborative approach convenes key players that support the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in a culturally sensitive and safe environment for all.

MHub is Malawi’s first innovation hub and incubator, established in 2013. This is a social enterprise that trains, mentors and incubates youth entrepreneurs in ICT and Business Skills. So far, MHub has trained over 8,000 youths in Business and ICT Skills and incubated more than 40 youth entrepreneurs in fields ranging from, but not limited to ICT, Architecture, Marketing, Agribusiness, Photography, Auditing and Waste Management. MHub also champions the development of local technology solutions and acts as an incubator for startups with a special focus on building young technology entrepreneurs through training, skills development and mentorship. The hub facilitates structured mentorship between young entrepreneurs and innovators with established experts, researchers and icons in technology and business.

mHub also aims to enhance knowledge sharing between industry, academia, developers, researchers and the community to ensure development of relevant technology solutions. The hub has a co-working space to provide youth entrepreneurs access to incubation, mentorship, access to finance and training through start-up camps, entrepreneurship challenges, business development clinics, proposal writing workshops and financial literacy just to mention a few. 

These Hands GSSE is a global for-profit social enterprise startup based in Botswana, which trains and supports rural community innovators/entrepreneurs in developing countries. As an enabler for international development work, they have also developed a social media platform dedicated to international development and co-creative design work and that does not require internet to use (USSD Based). They recently graduated from incubation at the Botswana Innovation Hub’s First Steps Venture Centre (BIH FSVC) and are now members. 

These Hands GSSE is a lifelong implementation partner and rural innovation centre partner of the International Development Innovation Network (IDIN) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) D-Lab for Botswana, Africa, Latin America, and South East Asia.

These Hands GSSE is also an implementation partner of the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) through its first university chapter, the Via Maranyane Student Organization. In addition, These Hands are implementation partners for the Injini Education Technology Incubation Programme for Botswana. 

In 2017, These Hands co-founded the International Development Innovation Network (IDIN)–SADC Consortium with partners Kafue Innovation Centre in Zambia and Twende Social Innovation Centre in Tanzania.

More Information:

Website: www.these-hands.org

These Hands Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/thesehandsgsse

IDIN–SADC Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/idinsadc

The African Business Angel Network (ABAN) is a Pan-African non-profit association. ABAN was founded in early 2015 to support the development of early-stage investor networks across the continent and to grow a cohort of early-stage investors excited about the opportunities in Africa.

For more information, also see: abanangels.org

Hivos (1968) has been in Southern Africa since 1989 (with its Hivos Southern Africa office) and has built a broad network within the region by supporting and seed-funding various incubators, supporting Civil Society organizations, founding inclusive financial entities and cooperating with government institutions and business associations. The organization has a longstanding track record in supporting the overall entrepreneurship ecosystem - with a strong emphasis on the inclusion and role of women and youth - creating thousands of sustainable jobs and invested millions.

In 2015, Hivos Southern Africa was co-responsible for the creation of Hivos Impact Investments, which manages an impact investment fund aimed at food companies in Southern Africa. The entrepreneurship support program provides actual trailed and tested business development services (BDS), supports the wider entrepreneurship ecosystem and helps to create an enabling environment in which business can truly thrive.

Futurice is a modern innovation consultancy with digital at its core. Their mission is to help customers unleash innovation through digital production design and build, emerging technology, agile software development and lean organizational change.

What does it take to create successful services and products? After designing and building 1000+ services, they repeatedly were prompted to answer this question. They responded by documenting their ways of working and sharing them publicly. Lean Service Creation is a curated set of canvases that walk you through the steps to create successful and impactful services and products. The Open Source tool helps you to reach business objectives in an iterative and human-centric way.

Pitching for Life. 

Walid O. El Cheikh is a coach, mentor, consultant, speaker and pitching competition judge. Walid has worked with thousands of startup founders, executives, students and children training them to embrace "Pitching for Life", which is the title of his upcoming book. He believes that pitching is the engine to realize your dreams in your career and life. In his workshops, Walid combines notions from academia, agile entrepreneurial practices, lean service design, as well as communication, negotiation, acting and improvisation, public speaking and cross-cultural business. He believes that participants can find their own styles and in their own pace to present themselves/their ideas, sell products/services and/or raise funding for a company. Walid's favorite quote is: "Pitching is for life; we need to be aware and ready to do it whenever is necessary to maximize every possible opportunity and create value".

The Shortcut is a non-profit organisation that helps people from diverse backgrounds accelerate their entry into the tech startup world by helping them optimise their talents. We are part of Startup Foundation sr. and a sister organisation to Slush. As part of such a dynamic community, we’ve had very successful collaborations with local and international actors such as Google and Mozilla. These collaborations have resulted in top notch trainings, workshops and programmes and opened the doors for more. With a staff of 10 and a small army of interns and volunteers we’ve hosted over 220 events with more than 1200 participants in 2018 alone. In the first two months of 2019, we’ve already had 40 events and we are working hard to surpass last year’s activities to impact a bigger number of people.

Siili Solutions is a 700 employee company with a proven track record of successful deliveries of modern digital services in the design, development and data processing areas. We have been working with leading global companies since 2005 by supporting their digital services development in various stages. We help our clients create better business and meaningful digital experiences by offering full range solutions for your digitalization challenges. By combining strategic insight, creative design, data management, and using our technology expertise we provide the best possible solutions for businesses. 

MEST is a Pan-African training program, seed fund and incubator for technology entrepreneurs in Africa launched in 2008, providing critical skills training in software development, business and communications. Since its inception, the Meltwater Foundation has invested $20 million into the program, supporting aspiring African entrepreneurs through the training program and incubator. Over 350 individual entrepreneurs have graduated from the training program and over 50 tech companies have been launched via seed funding and mentorship from MEST.