NBIC receives financial boost

During the Creativity and Innovation Week, the Bank of Namibia (BON) has officially handed over its sponsorship of N$150,000 to the Namibia Business Innovation Centre (NBIC) on 17 April. The money is to be used by the Innovation Marketplace Programme at the NBIC.
Thus far the BoN has sponsored over one million towards the Innovation Marketplace, whose role is to stimulate a culture of innovation, creativity and future thinking. Its aim is to inspire and produce an upcoming generation that will revolutionise the way Namibians think, generate solution-driven ideas and create a culture that encourages freedom of expression.
Mr Ndangi Katoma, Director of Strategic Communications and Financial Sector Development, said:  “With a 29.6% unemployment rate in our country it is important to have initiatives such as the Namibia Business Innovation Centre that afford people the opportunity to cultivate and formulate their ideas into realities that help us as a nation achieve our national goals and objectives.”

“The NBIC aspires to be the innovation hub that sparks the interest for innovation and entrepreneurship among people from all walks of life. This they do through their different programmes, workshops and individual mentoring to help people develop their innovative ideas into formalised businesses,” said Katoma.
Angelica Bergmann, Innovation Marketplace Manager said, “I like to refer to the Innovation Marketplace as the mouth of the NBIC. It is a judgement-free space where all kinds of different, crazy and interesting flavours meet. Once they have matured into innovative and creative thinkers, they then proceed and are ready to become entrepreneurs.” To this date, the Innovation Marketplace has come across more than 300 ideas from its Idea Competition, and over 200 aspiring entrepreneurs have attended its workshops. Through these interactions the Innovation Marketplace has created its own workshop, namely the “Idea Creation, Idea Innovation and Idea Assessment Workshop”, tailored to the needs and personalities of the participants. The Innovation Marketplace has also introduced an outreach programme to avoid centralising all its activities in Windhoek. The outreach programme ensures that the whole of Namibia has an equal chance to participate in the innovation agenda while staying in touch with the NBIC’s activities.