By:Nghiinomenwa-vali Erastus
In an era of risk aversion, entrepreneurship development and incubation is critical, says Basecamp Namibia Director Jesay Hano-oshike.
The Villager interviewed Hano-oshike on the partnership between First National Bank Namibia (FNB) and Basecamp which aims to continue entrepreneurship development through incubation and mentoring.
FNB last month entered into a partnership with Basecamp Namibia and pledged N$900,000 towards the Basecamp Business Incubator to enable it to continue with its entrepreneurship development programmes.
Hano-oshike explained that the essence of the programme is to assist aspiring entrepreneurs in developing their ideas and concepts into practical businesses, enter the market, and to get them to the stages where they can access capital as finance.
Local entrepreneurs face so many obstacles, starting from turning their ideas and concepts into business, accessing capital, taking their products to the market, and getting investors to scale up.
Hano-oshiked highlighted that the Basecamp provides hand holding platforms to aspiring entrepreneurs and start-ups in the process of building businesses.
Moreover, Basecamp Namibia it also introduces them to the right stakeholders in the market, he said.
He said their hunt programme assists entrepreneurs in turning their ideas into a business concept to graduate to a different journey of enterprise building.
The second programme being early incubating where they prepare themselves to pitch their concepts, as the hunt for a commercial concept continues.
The programme invites participants across the country, while FNB will also connect some of their entrepreneurs’ clients to participate in the programme.
Hano-oshike has also concurred that there is a lot to be done to enable access to markets in the country, and the partnership aims to bridge the gap.
He said the country is able to innovate solutions as most of the entrepreneurs they have worked with are from the innovative space, and Basecamp just assists them to provide a platform to build better and long-lasting enterprises.
However, he added that the initiative will require more support if they are to finance and groom riskier business ideas, especially at times when everyone is risk averse.
He added that despite the fear emanating from startup failure in the country, it is important to cultivate a different mindset that focuses on identifying and developing the feasible ideas that are struggling to get the needed assistance.
Over 100 entrepreneurs have benefitted from the Basecamp hunt programme and with the new FNB partnership, the camp expects to reach out to more entrepreneurs.
Some of the programmes with the Basecamp initiative include, 2 Ideation Programme Events, 2 Incubation Programmes, 1 Trade focused Pre-Acceleration Programme and and 1 Export focussed Acceleration Programme.
Basesecamp Business Incubator is an incubation and innovation hub that aims to help build a thriving Southern African startup ecosystem.
It aims to accommodate new, innovative ideas to flourish and grow into sustainable and investable businesses.
Head of Business Banking at FNB Tomas Iindji said their partnership with Basecamp Namibia is iIn line with the company’s vision of real help for impactful change and a globally competitive Namibia, by investing in beneficial change for the country’s SME segment.
“Our aim is to enable SME’s with opportunities for growth and skill development, in-turn providing a positive change and promoting long-term sustainable value to society”, says Mr
Iindji continues, “in order to create sustainable growth, long-term impact and support for SME’s within the Namibian economy, FNB Commercial has pledged N$900,000 towards the Basecamp Business Incubator.”
Along with this, the FirstRand Namibia Board has assigned an overall budget of N$5 million for specifically identified initiatives within the SME / Growth Segment.
The Basecamp Business Incubator Hub is a social enterprise, operating as a non-profit company. Basecamp was established to function as an incubation and innovation hub which contributes to building a thriving Namibian and African startup ecosystem where new, innovative ideas are able to flourish and grow into sustainable businesses. Their vision is to pioneer the transformation of Namibian startups into future-ready leaders in innovation, economic growth, and entrepreneurial excellence.
“FNB remains committed towards growing the economy through support towards SME’s and entrepreneurs. With this partnership, along with our best-in-class services and products available to the SME market, we look forward to creating shared value within society, as well as a platform of hope for people and SME’s to fulfil their dreams,” Iindji stated.Email: erastus@thevillager.com.na
Basecamp Namibia Welcomes FNB Partnership …to transform ideas and concepts into businesses
