Innovationalists targeted by Development Bank

The Development Bank of Namibia has called for public entries for the Innovation Award. The Innovation Award seeks out notable proposals for innovative products and practices, and supports the winner with grant finance of up to N$250,000 for the project.
Talking about the 2016 Innovation Award, DBN Senior Communications Manager, Jerome Mutumba, said that the 2016 Award encourages entries in the fields of manufacturing, transport and logistics, and tourism.
Mutumba said that proposals should give the competitive edge to business or industrial processes. Among the factors that the panel of independent judges will consider, he said that merit will be given to use of cutting edge technology and adding value to Namibian resources.
Furthermore, he said the Bank seeks to use the Award to address current issues, particularly provision of serviced land and housing, generation of power or provision of water. Other factors that will be considered, he says, are ease and speed of implementation, and whether the proposal can form the basis of a franchise.
In 2015, the winning entry was a proposal for a mobile mammography unit, initiated by Medi-Rad. The proposal targeted women in rural areas who had difficulty travelling to centralised mammography units in northern Namibia. Certificates of merit were also awarded to two plans to process Namibian foodstuffs.
Talking about the 2015 Award, Isdor Murunga of Medi-Rad said the award assisted him to to ramp up Medi-Rad’s operations, and grow the company turnover substantially. He went on to say that a portion of the award is being used to acquire the mammography machine, which will be installed in the truck.
In 2014, the winning entry was Eenda-Nawa, a proposal for life insurance during trips on Namibia’s roads, obtained by sending an SMS.
Meanwhile, Mutumba said the closing date for proposals is 19 August 2016, and entries and enquiries should be addressed to [email protected].