After four years of extending innovation and entrepreneurship support, the Southern Africa Innovation Support Programme (SAIS 2) has celebrated its final new year. It is a natural step to take a look to the past as well as the future while we prepare to close the programme. We see all the activities that we need to engage in not only to bring the programme to an exciting end, but also to ensure the sustainability of our results long after we are gone.
We also need to look back at the many milestones we have achieved to share the good news from SAIS 2 while also sharing the important lessons we have learnt along the way.
At the SAIS 2 Programme Management Office, we have always kept our attention on both the future and past in all of our activities, looking to past lessons to better execute our present and future tasks. Now that we're on the cusp of the programme's final phases, we would like to take a moment to look back at some of our recent achievements as well as those of selected SAIS 2 Innovation Fund Projects.
BOOST UP 2021
We are excited to announce the winner and runners up of BOOST UP 2021!
BOOST UP is a three-phase startup support programme focused on teaching early-stage social impact startups crucial skills needed to pitch and run their businesses.
After receiving almost 300 applications, SAIS 2 and the partner organisations in the Southern Africa Innovation Collective went on to take 11 startups to Finland for the BOOST UP Bootcamp and the Grand Finale at Slush, the world’s biggest startup event.
ASAIF 2021
The Annual Southern Africa Innovation Forum (ASAIF) is SAIS 2’s flagship networking event, which brings together innovation ecosystem stakeholders from across SADC and the rest of the world to discuss best practices and lessons learnt in entrepreneurship and innovation.
ASAIF 2021 was SAIS 2’s fourth and final such event, and featured several of our network members. Topics under discussion included Expanding Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in the SADC Region, Steps to Take Before Entering the Market, and Support Instruments for Expanding into New Markets.
The Southern Africa Innovation Collective Launched at the SA Innovation Summit
In another major milestone for SAIS 2, the Connected Hubs initiative has been launched into an independent organisation known as the Southern Africa Innovation Collective (SAIC). Continuing where they left off as Connected Hubs, SAIC will be a community of learning for its member organisations – various innovation support organisations from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia. They will also continue to host BOOST UP after SAIS 2 ends.
Innovation Fund Project Spotlights
As part of their reporting, the SAIS 2 Innovation Fund projects were required to share case studies and lessons learnt so that these could be shared with SAIS 2’s larger network. They were also offered the opportunity to share short-form articles focusing on their activities. These articles will be shared on the SAIS 2 website until the end of the programme in March. The first articles are available for reading at the links provided below.
Take a look at how Regional Connect adjusted so they could continue despite COVID-19 restrictions.
ITTHYNK and Apps & Girls prepared African youths to take on the Fourth Industrial Revolution by equipping them with skills needed in a rapidly changing job market.
Permaculture offers a radical approach to food production and urban renewal, water, energy, and pollution. Find out how the Living Permaculture Project taught inhabitants in Kanyama and Kalikiliki to cultivate their own fresh produce.
Don't Forget to Download This Exciting Publication
During the BOOST UP Programme, SAIS 2 and SAIC provide training and knowledge, and offer opportunities for networking to startups using technology to solve societal problems. Startups as the New Super Heroes – Entrepreneurship as a Tool for Making a Difference Volume 3 presents the entrepreneurial journeys of various startups that participated in BOOST UP 2020. These young founders’ stories serve as inspiration to others and provide further insight to funders, sponsors, and policymakers on the challenges experienced by early-stage startups in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia. The publication also highlights the opportunities that instruments such as SAIS 2 can offer startups in terms of networking and partnerships in addition to finance.
News from Our Network
SADC Issues Call for Proposals
The SADC Secretariat has opened a request for applications for Support to Industrialisation and Productive Sectors.
Looking to the Future
SAIS 2 End Conference
As part of SAIS 2's closure, we will be collating and presenting all of our activities and their results at the SAIS 2 End Conference. The date is to be confirmed, but keep your eye out for a save the date letter that will follow soon.
Coming Soon: Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in the SADC Region
A culmination of years of research, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in the SADC Region lays the foundation for a comprehensive map of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Southern Africa.
Focusing on the five SAIS 2 partner countries (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia), this publication maps the ecosystems while also analysing the environment in which they operate.
While the mapping is by no means exhaustive, it paves the way for future adaptation and study.