“Start-ups are the seeds of a strong economy, with jobs for everyone. In Namibia, there are not enough start-ups, but a lot of tenderpreneurs,” said Mbo Luvindao, Manager at Bank Windhoek’s Emerging Small and Medium Enterprises Branch.
Mr. Luvando’s Bank Windhoek along the European Investment Bank and the Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), have recently made the steps to join a team of Namibia’s startups to hold Namibia’s first ever and probably Africa’s first ever start up festival, report the New Era.
Namibia Start-up Festival, which will run from June 9th to 10th, seeks to inspire Namibians to become true entrepreneurs and celebrate new ideas and courageous business founders.
“Start-ups create jobs, not only for our generation, but our children and grandchildren. They put competitive pressure on existing businesses, forcing them to modernise and innovate, which is very important for long-term sustainable economic growth,” said Mbo Luvindao.
Namibia’s Financial Literacy Initiative, FabLab, Team Namibia and the Namibia Innovation Institute are the hosts of the festival.
The festival will provide opportunities for participants to learn about business, access startup funding and find investors.
Start-ups will learn from regional and local mentors and investors will scout new ventures to invest in. It will be about breakthroughs, making headlines and growing Namibian start-ups. A cash prize of N$ 75 000 (5,712 USD) stands to be won at the festival.
