“Entrepreneurs and innovation are the source of solutions to problems that ordinary people face every day. We want to help entrepreneurs develop their ideas into viable products and services, so that these solutions find the people. Not to mention the financial and job creation implications these entrepreneurs can have on our economy and communities.”
When I came across this statement on CiTi’s (Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative) website, I couldn’t agree more with Alan Maguire, the Programme Facilitator at Bandwidth Barn; regarding the degree of what entrepreneurs can do to ameliorate the sufferings of the average people.
That assertion was made at the launch of the Entrepreneurship Project, an initiative aimed at providing total support for student entrepreneurs with innovative ideas for businesses by employing tools such as mentorship, source funding (wherever promising) and business skill.
The initiative is conceived by the agglomeration of UCT Club, ABSIP (Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals), CiTi (Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative) and UCT (University of Cape Town) in Cape Town, South Africa.
“This collaboration will mean stronger support for entrepreneurs with a focus on tech and innovation, as well as women in business. We are excited about the possibilities that will arise from this collaboration,” Fred Ajusi, Project Manager of the Entrepreneurship Project iterates in.
CiTi, by virtue of its authority in incubating promising entrepreneurs in about a decade and a half, thought it wise to bring the model to the university community. Based on a campus barn hub, student entrepreneurs are been offered incubation and support to reach more entrepreneurs at the infant stage of their ideas; consequently helping them to bring their ideas to the eagerly waiting market.
“The Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals (ABSIP) is an on-campus society at UCT that has been supporting student entrepreneurs since 1995. Their vision is to continue celebrating the success of black leaders and professionals, continue focusing on women in business as well as to establish more student chapters across the country,” a statement reads about one of the campus body behind the initiative.
Catch them young seems to be the inference I can draw from this exceptionally inclusive idea; university days are the most active period in the lives of young people all over the world. It is where disruptive ideas are born; Mark Zuckerberg, Ndubuisi Ekekwe, Larry Ellison, Saheed Adepoju et al attest to that.
