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Minds in Action scoops startup award against stiff competition

Minds in Action scoops startup award against stiff competition

A youth-owned educational startup walked away with a N$10,000 prize last week in a local sharktank business pitch competition. The successful candidate was one of six and the business jumpstart event was organised by Dololo DoBox and sponsored by B2Gold mine.

The Jumpstarter for the night was Ndaudika Mulundileni, founder of Minds in Action, who received the highest score from the judges: “We are excited about the outcome of the pitch event! It was an opportunity for us to showcase our business model, to demonstrate to the judges that we are committed to grow and able to make a profit while making an impact in society. Funds will enable us to improve our STEAM Centre, to make it more conducive for learning,” said Ndaudika.

Minds in Action is a youth educator focussing on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM).

The other five competing SMEs were Yannis Beukes of Elyzian Fitness, an apparel brand and gym which offers personal training; Alek Pieters, founder of Surge Sustainability that develops and builds biogas plants; Rebecca Marais from Busy Beez educational materials, a startup that provides educational materials for kids; Björn Roxin of Termite Software, the developers of the Etosha app; and Hubert Nashenda of U.B. Innovations who has developed various fitness apps currently available on Google Play.

In June last year, Dololo DoBox was appointed to design and implement B2Gold’s Startup initiative, the miner’s first incubation programme for training, mentoring and supporting small businesses to become financially independent and/or ready to attract investments.

Each participant only had three minutes to convince the judges to invest up to N$10,000 in his or her business. The judging panel included Sem Mandela Uutoni, Dantagos Jimmy-Melani and Natalia Haulofu of B2Gold Namibia.

“The new ideas presented tonight prove that Namibian needs can be addressed by Namibians. I am confident that these businesses will flourish as they have already taken the first steps. Well done to all of you,” congratulated Haulofu afterwards.

“High Jumper Of the Night”: Ndaudika and Andreas of Minds in Action. (Photograph by CZ Oosthuizen)


 

 

 

Organiser Dololo DoBox, sponsor B2Gold mine and all six of the first jumpstarters opened the stage for the gold miner’s involvement in supporting youth-owned SMEs. (Photograph by CZ Oosthuizen)


 

About The Author

Daniel Steinmann

Educated at the University of Pretoria: BA (hons), BD. Postgraduate degrees in Philosophy and Divinity. Publisher and Editor of the Namibia Economist since February 1991. Daniel Steinmann has steered the Economist as editor for the past 32 years. The Economist started as a monthly free-sheet, then moved to a weekly paper edition (1996 to 2016), and on 01 December 2016 to a daily digital newspaper at www.economist.com.na. It is the first Namibian newspaper to go fully digital. He is an authority on macro-economics having established a sound record of budget analysis, strategic planning and assessing the impact of policy formulation. For eight years, he hosted a weekly talk-show on NBC Radio, explaining complex economic concepts to a lay audience in a relaxed, conversational manner. He was a founding member of the Editors' Forum of Namibia. Over the years, he has mentored hundreds of journalism students as interns and as young professional journalists. From time to time he helps economics students, both graduate and post-graduate, to prepare for examinations and moderator reviews. He is the Namibian respondent for the World Economic Survey conducted every quarter for the Ifo Center for Business Cycle Analysis and Surveys at the University of Munich in Germany. Since October 2021, he conducts a weekly talkshow on Radio Energy, again for a lay audience. On 04 September 2022, he was ordained as a Minister of the Dutch Reformed Church of Africa (NHKA). Send comments or enquiries to [email protected]