Ebson Uanguta: Promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in Namibia
Speech by Mr Ebson Uanguta, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Namibia, at the Namibia
Business Innovation Centre (NBIC) Business Idea Competition, Windhoek, 23 May 2012.
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Master of Ceremonies
Prof. Tjama Tjivikua, the Rector of Polytechnic of Namibia
Ms. Dagmar Honsbein, Director: Namibia Business Innovation Centre (NBIC)
Dr Malan Lindeque, Permanent Secretary: Ministry of Trade & Industry
Other Members of Polytechnic of Namibia's Management Team
Members of Advisory Board and NBIC Staff
Invited Guests
Participants of the competition
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to join you today at this important event. I am honoured to be
the keynote speaker and to present the awards to the finalists and overall winners.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me begin by congratulating each finalist of the Business Idea Competition. This year, I
understand there were a record number of entrants and the quality of entrees has improved.
Therefore, to be chosen among all these applications as the top 3 winners, you are truly
among the creative and innovative individuals. We honour you for your hard work and
resilience thus far on this very important journey of innovative entrepreneurship. This is
indeed an important step in that journey; that is the step of conceptualisation of your
business ideas. The next important step should be to monetise your innovation. Judging by
your demonstrated hard work and commitment thus far, I have no doubt that all of you will
pull through to the stage of sustainable monetisation of your ideas. The mentorship
programme provided by the NBIC will help greatly in that process. I therefore implore you to
avail yourselves to the ultimate mentoring that will be offered, so that you will be able to
implement your business ideas successfully.
To the other participants who did not make it to the finals, I urge you to keep on pursuing
your ideas and dreams to innovate. History has repeatedly shown that perseverance is a key
factor to the long-term success of every innovator and each entrepreneur. For instance,
Thomas Edison termed as one of the most prolific inventor in history had 1,000 unsuccessful
attempts at inventing the light bulb. It is reported that when a reporter asked, "How did it feel
to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn't fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention
with 1,000 steps." This is the attitude that we should adopt; an attitude of "persistence until
the breakthrough". This is exactly what Namibia needs; an army of persistent, innovative
entrepreneurs that will steer employment creation and economic growth.
Ladies and gentlemen,
As we all know, NBIC aspires to be the innovation hub that sparks the interest for innovation
and entrepreneurship among people from all walks of life. This is done through different
programmes in place, such as workshops and individual mentoring to help people develop
their innovative ideas into formalized businesses. As such, today we are marking the
outcome of one of these programmes which is the Business Idea Competition. This
programme in particular, targets the general public. It is a form of inspiring citizens of
Namibia to initiate innovative business Ideas. Entrepreneurs play a key role in keeping
economies strong and competitive. They are the creators, risk takers, inventors and creator
of jobs and wealth in an economy.
The starting point for any business centers on the belief that entrepreneurship is about
creativity through a person coming up with an innovative idea in the market. In other words,
one point of starting a business is to identify a problem in a certain market and come up with
an idea of how to solve that problem. This was also confirmed by Thomas Edison when he
"I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might
said
give others... I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent."
With these words, Ladies and gentlemen,
Entrepreneurs should be encouraged to explore causes and problems in areas they are
passionate about because any problem could translate into a business. In addition, to be a
successful entrepreneur, you need to have the passion, confidence as well as the
commitment and ability to realize the materialization of your business ideas. Of course, you
also need a business plan, but at the beginning, you need to come up with an idea. In short,
one can say a great businesses start with a creative innovative idea that solves a problem at
hand.
Against this background, Ladies and Gentlemen,
We need to change our focus and spend more time on training our people and help them to
become innovative and creative. The reason is that, if we can get better ideas, we get better
business plans and better businesses. For example, Bill Gates, Mary Kay, Richard Branson,
Thomas Edison, Debbi Fields - to name just a few, are some of the successful
entrepreneurs in the world, but they never graduated from college, nor did they pursue formal
education in business or entrepreneurship. Yet from Microsoft to Virgin and other big
businesses, they redefined what it takes to turn good ideas into lucrative businesses. We
therefore acknowledge and recognise the important role the NBIC is playing in training,
coaching and mentoring aspiring innovative entrepreneurs. We believe that NBIC provides a
unique opportunity to exchange ideas, explore new businesses, discuss emerging
technologies, share growth strategies and obtain insight from global business leaders,
community leaders and worldwide experts.
The Bank of Namibia is therefore very proud to be associated with the NBIC's quest to help
people to create and realize their new innovative ideas. Indeed, as one of the sponsors of
NBIC, today, the Bank of Namibia would like to reaffirm its commitment and support to this
noble call. We have faith in what NBIC is doing and hope that it will continue to do even
more. We know that NBIC's contribution to innovation and creativity will help greatly in the
Nation's quest for employment creation and economic growth, and more so, for Namibia to
become a competitive country in the world.
On its part, the Bank of Namibia, together with the Ministry of Finance and support from other
Government Ministries and Agencies will continue to persist in ensuring that the Financial
Sector Strategy that makes access to finance for SMEs as one of its focal points is
successfully implemented. This is in light of the fact that access to finance will go a step
further in complementing the efforts of institutions such as NBIC and thereby ensuring that
we create a vibrant culture of entrepreneurship as a Nation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Without much ado, allow me to go to the second part of my task today to applaud the
finalists. These are the people who worked late into the evening and early in the morning to
come up with creative and innovative business ideas. On behalf of the Bank of Namibia,
once again, I want to congratulate all the finalists of the NBIC Business Idea Competition and
wish you the best of luck. We look forward to learning more about your innovative ideas and
helping you to move them off the drawing boards and into the marketplace. Although, you
have emerged as winners today, the ultimate winners will be the people whose quality of
lives will be changed through the impact of your business ideas on economic growth and job
creation in Namibia - through your hard-work and determination.
Finally, I would like to leave you with these words from Steve Jobs as food for thought, "I am
convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the
nonsuccessful ones is pure perseverance."
Let's persevere, and make Namibia a truly
competitive, global player. Ladies and gentlemen, it is therefore a great honour for me to
present the awards to the winners of the Business Idea Competition.
I thank you!