Africa-Press – Namibia. FINANCIAL services company Sanlam Namibia has teamed up with Start-Up Namibia on a programme set to help entrepreneurs acquire the necessary skills to run their businesses and to obtain the seed capital needed to get started.
Launched on Tuesday in Windhoek, the programme will be funded by Sanlam and facilitated by Start-Up Namibia.
Sanlam’s marketing and communications manager, Hilaria Graig, says the Sanlam Bridge Programme is part of Sanlam’s corporate social responsibility initiative.
She says the programme aims to create opportunities for youth-led businesses, promote business innovation and to help diversify the Namibian economy while creating employment opportunities for young people.
Graig says it is the company’s vision and hope that more and more young people are able to create lasting businesses and contribute to skills development.
In the past the Sanlam Bridge Programme was known as the Sanlam Innovation Works Programne, she says.
“We changed it last year and called it the Sanlam Bridge, because we believe it is a bridge towards entrepreneurship,” she says.
Graig says to ensure more enetrepreneurs benefit from the programme, they selected 30 candidates who will soon embark on a four-week pre-incubation programme facilitated by Start-Up Namibia.
They will be taught basic business principles to help them further grow their business, network with other start-ups, and receive coaching and mentorship.
Five winners will be selected to continue with the programme, and will receive N$50 000 in seed capital, coupled with training and mentorship.
The overall winner will be announced towards the end of the year to receive an additional N$50 000.
Start-Up Namibia representative Jesjaya Hano-Oshike says the initiative has attracted many entrepreneurs.
He says the programme includes ‘design thinking’, which would help entrepreneurs restructure their ideas to become business ready.
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