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UFS hosts launch of Khoebo Innovation Promotion Programme

14 November 2024 | Story André Damons | Photo André Damons

Khoebo Innovation Promotion Programme launch 2024 — Staff members from the Directorate Research Development (DRD) at the University of the Free State; Palesa Mgaga, second from right, Tebogo Machethe, centre, and Charelise van Staden, second from right, were thanked for hosting the launch of the Khoebo Innovation Promotion Programme. They are pictured with colleagues from the IDC’s Samkelisiwe Mtsewu, left, and Thato Mogopodi, far right.

The University of the Free State (UFS), represented by the Directorate Research Development (DRD), played host to the Department of Trade Industry and Competition (dtic) and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) for the launch of its Khoebo Innovation Promotion Programme (KIPP).

The launch took place on 5 November in the Sasol Library on the Bloemfontein Campus. Tebogo Machethe, Director: Research Contracts and Innovation at the DRD, said its role was to expose the university researchers to different opportunities and programmes for funding from the IDC and the dtic. It also allowed the researchers to engage potential funders in order to understand what funders look for in a project when considering funding it.

“The aim of IDC KIPP is to assist local entrepreneurs and small to medium enterprises with commercialisation funding. The KIPP offers capital and business support to SMMEs during the early stages of commercialisation with particular emphasis on township and rural entrepreneurs,” said Machethe.

Address uneven distribution of economic development

KIPP is a dtic programme but is managed by the IDC and aims to enable early-stage innovative SMEs to penetrate the market with their locally developed innovations, resulting in a more competitive economic environment and thereby facilitating economic growth in the economy.

According to Machethe, who welcomed the guests, participants and presenters to the launch, some of the funding is geared towards the development of university innovations. Though the focus was on the KIPP launch, he continued, the discussions also encompassed other forms of funding that are available and more geared towards the university innovation.

His address was centred around the university's Vision 130 and how it supports innovation and the entire innovation ecosystem, which seeks to shift the emphasis to research impact, embracing both knowledge and societal impact. Vision 130 identifies the need for a greater focus on collaborative research, research that can attract large-scale funding in niche areas where the university is seen as a national and global leader.

Samkelisiwe Mtsewu, KIPP Account Manager at the IDC, said the programme was introduced to address the uneven distribution of economic development across the country. She said with its capacity, the KIPP programme can contribute to addressing the uneven distribution of economic development.

News Archive

UFS and BMF present a crash course on Financial Literacy for Young Entrepreneurs

2017-08-23

Starting a business, big or small, can be a really difficult task – especially if you are not equipped with the basic business knowledge to help you kick-start this project.

For this reason, the University of the Free State (UFS), in collaboration with the Black Management Forum (BMF), held a Financial Literacy Workshop for Young Entrepreneurs on the Bloemfontein Campus early last week to assist in this regard.

Young entrepreneurs equipped with business knowledge for start-ups
The purpose of the workshop, which was presented by Francois Marais and Eduard Loots from Riskflow, was to equip young entrepreneurs with knowledge and skills to assist them in the business world. The main focus was on training start-up businesses to prepare business plans, and training was given to researchers, developers, and innovators on how to commercialise their inventions.

Ansie Barnard, Senior Officer in the UFS Business School, says since the involvement of the school in entrepreneurship development over the past few years, they came to the realisation that many of these new businesses tend to fail within a year because they do not have a suitable financial model.

“This is the reason why we utilised Riskflow Financial Modelling Software, since it does all the accounting calculations on their behalf,” says Barnard.

Introduction to basic business banking
In addition to this, the participants were introduced to the basics of business banking, with Standard Bank and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) as the guest presenters providing them with this information.

BMF’s Rozanne Brown says that many of these young entrepreneurs have the desire to succeed in business; therefore there is a need for this type of workshop.

BMF and the UFS Business School will look into hosting more entrepreneurial workshops in the future,” says Brown. All attendees of the workshop will receive certificates for their participation.

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