Start-up incubation and innovation centre to open its doors to the public by June 2020
The construction of the Start-up Incubation and Innovation Centre was launched officially with a ground-breaking ceremony on the premises of the Bokamoso Entrepreneurial Centre in Katutura last week
The Start-up Incubation and Innovation Centre is a joint Namibian-German technical cooperation project for sustainable economic development, implemented by the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Government.
The land on which the Start-up Centre will be built has been availed by the City of Windhoek by Council Resolution.
The Start-up Centre will incubate Start-ups and serve as a “one-stop-shop” for all needs a new business faces in its ideation, establishment and growth phases, in addition, mobile outreach units will serve Start-ups in three regions in Namibia.
The Start-up Centre will house a co-working space, where Start-ups can rent affordable office space at flexible conditions. It will nurture an inclusive community of entrepreneurs, that will support and learn from each other. In addition, a so-called maker-space will offer opportunities to Start-ups to build, experiment and prototype with both traditional and new technologies.
“In the current troubling economic times that we find ourselves in, I do not need to highlight to you the importance of the private sector, and the critical role Start-ups and Entrepreneurs will play in overcoming the current stretch of low growth and unemployment in Namibia. We all know, we cannot do it without the private sector,” said Dr. Becky Ndjoze-Ojo, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Innovation and Technology.
According to Ndjoze-Ojo, over the duration of the project of almost four years, the Centre is expected to support the founding of a minimum of 150 new companies and assist a further 500 Start-ups through various support programmes.
“This is an ambitious goal, but I am convinced that if we all join hands and deliver on our pledge to choose the hard path with commitment and motivation, we will succeed,” she added.
Meanwhile, Nina Maritz will be the lead architect on the project, and with her sound expertise and long experience in sustainable architecture, the Start-up Centre will live and breathe innovation with eco-friendly and recycled building materials, self-sufficient power systems and water-saving measures.
The centre will open its doors to the public in June 2020.