Select Page

FABlab calls innovators and inventors to showcase their projects at upcoming Pitch Night

FABlab calls innovators and inventors to showcase their projects at upcoming Pitch Night

Naomi Kefas of Clean Products know all about the value of a pitch night and it has nothing to do with how dark it was. She pitched her product and business idea to a panel at the University of Science and Technology’s FABlab, got the green light and is now making waves with her product range manufactured by local company Magnetize Investments.

Another pitch night it scheduled for 26 September 2017 but this time the stakes are much higher. In the time since the previous round of pitch nights, FABlab has partnered with the GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), the 2nd Southern Africa Innovation Support (SAIS) Programme of the German Ministry of Economic Development, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.

FABlab Director, Kirstin Wiedow announced the upcoming pitch night saying the local start-up scene is still in its infancy but with three such heavyweigth institutions joining forces, technology and start-ups are being taken to the next level. “The online applications opened recently and we already have some exciting applicants in the mix,” she said.

Local start-ups who wish to pitch must submit their projects to FABlab through the online registration process. Each project offered for consideration must be aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Wiedow said the best pitch will be awarded the opportunity to attend the renowned SLUSH event at the end of the year, sponsored by the German economic development ministry.
SLUSH is Europe’s leading start-up and technology event held every year in Helsinki, Finland. It attracts more than 17,000 visitors comprising entrepreneurs, business owners and creative inventors. It offers a networking platform to all its visitors to promote their ideas and to take their technological inventions to a wider potential market. http://www.slush.org/about/press-info/

“This is an amazing opportunity for the country’s young innovators. We are excited to be working with a fantastic cohort of passionate supporters of Namibia; the Finnish team at the SAIS programme and the German team at the GIZ. Together we will be hosting the PITCHNIGHT where the finalists have the opportunity to present their projects to a hand-picked and highly knowledgeable jury who will chose the most promising start-up.

All applicants need to be assessed to check that they meet all the minimum qualifying criteria and only a few will make it through to the grand finale event #PITCHNIGHTNAM.
SAIS will finance Namibia’s most promising start-up who will go on a customised facilitated trip around the Helsinki start-up ecosystem to promote their ideas before signing in for SLUSH.

FABlab Namibia is the first advanced manufacturing, prototyping and design laboratory in Namibia and the largest FABlab in Africa.


 

 

About The Author

Mandisa Rasmeni

Mandisa Rasmeni has worked as reporter at the Economist for the past five years, first on the entertainment beat but now focussing more on community, social and health reporting. She is a born writer and she believes education is the greatest equalizer. She received her degree in Journalism at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) in June 2021. . She is the epitome of perseverance, having started as the newspaper's receptionist in 2013.