On your marks, get set, innovate!
Ampioneers Team DaMark.com presenting their business model to bridge the gap between formal and informal sectors at the Windhoek Ampion VentureBus start up pitch session.(Photograph by The Tech Guys Blog.com)
Katlego Arnone Business Development Manager at Microsoft, Dirk Jan Koeman who has held positions at Orange, Vodafone and other telecom companies, Wilko Aschenborn owner of Intouch Marketing and Juha Miettinen Chief Technical Advisor and Team Leader at SAIS (Southern Africa Innovation Support Programme), FCG International served as judges during the start up pitching sessions.
After a night of rest in Windhoek, the Ampioneers met at the Namibia Business Innovation Institute formerly the (NBIC) where the NBII’s Director Dorothea Mischo welcomed the tour group from Harare.
Mischo said that it is inspiring & motivating that the tech tour made a pit stop at the NBII’s innovation village set-up seeing that the world too is becoming a global village. She urged the innovators to strike a responsible balance between their budding entrepreneurial work and life.
The southern African tour this time around included Namibia and Botswana. The Tech Guys and the Southern Africa Innovation Support Programme (SAIS) and other local stakeholders hosted the bus in Windhoek. The Southern African leg of the tech tour started in Harare passed through Gaborone and then Windhoek. It will be coming to an end this week in Cape Town.
Venture Bus Regional Manager Francis Chiwunda said at the event that it was unfortunate that only 2 of the five participants from Namibia managed to pitch. “The 9 teams were chosen at random and had to pitch their ideas to a panel of potential investors.” Chiwunda said.
The Tech Guys Namibia co-founder, Tsuutheni Emvula said at the event that they were proud to push Namibia towards becoming a part of SADC global ecosystem and build connections with other innovators.
