Business start-up festival for budding entrepreneurs coming

To change the perception of entrepreneurship, the Financial Literacy Initiative, Team Namibia, The Namibia Business Innovation Institute (NBII) and FabLab will host a business start-up festival for small to medium enterprises later in June.

The event spokesperson, Caroline Girard said, “We realised that it is difficult to start and run a business, but it is also really rewarding. That is why we are creating an event to inspire potential entrepreneurs, grow existing start-ups, and most importantly celebrate entrepreneurial minds”.

“We also feel that there is a lack of innovation and little appreciation for new business ideas that want to create employment in their communities, rather than win government tenders,” she added.

According to Girard the platform will create linkages between start-ups, entrepreneurs, corporates, government and other stakeholders to strengthen and build the start-up environment in the country.

“There will be talks from great local and international speakers on various topics that are of utmost importance for entrepreneurs and a series of workshops to guide potential entrepreneurs through the whole ideation process,” she added.

Furthermore, she said those already in the business of entrepreneurship and want to grow their businesses or generally curious about how to go about starting up an enterprise will have an opportunity to pitch to investors or glean up on information on how to best prepare their funding pitches.

“We will have a speed dating event, where entrepreneurs will have limited time to convince potential investors,” she said, adding on that entrepreneurs could away with prizes from the pitch sessions.

Meanwhile, Girard said budding entrepreneurs will be able to buy tickets to attend the 2-day festival. “The tickets are not available yet, but entrepreneurs are invited to follow the partner organisations on social media to receive the latest updates and not to miss the opening of ticket sales,” she explained.

According to her participants can expect to interact directly with successful entrepreneurs, not only from Namibia but also from overseas.

“They will also have the opportunity to meet investors as they gain a lot of exposure to the newest technologies and learn a new skill or two. Plus, it’s going to be a lot of fun as we will close the festival with a great party that nobody wants to miss,”she concluded.