The Omaheke Innovation Village previously known as the Omaheke Incubation Hub aimed to fight the high levels of unemployment especially amongst the youth in the region opened its doors at Gobabis on Monday.

The innovation village which is an initiative of Omaheke Governor Pijoo Nganate was officially inaugurated by Minister of Industrialisation and Trade, Lucia Iipumbu on Friday to nurture entrepreneurship in the eastern region.

It is also a business accelerator facility that provides support for established business start-ups in need of basic operational infrastructure.

In an interview with Nampa on Monday, the facility’s manager, Gregory Madi said the first group of 50 participants have commenced their six-month incubation and innovation programme.

“Now that the facility is inaugurated and open, we will stream a number of programmes which will incorporate a number of groups such as the youth and creative industries as well as small businesses,” he said.

He said the training which commenced on Monday, include critical thinking and innovation as well as the entrepreneurship baseline course to prepare the participants for the main six-month incubation and innovation programme.

Madi further explained that depending on the different stakeholders that will come on board, the facility will also host a number of business seminars.

On his part, Nganate said the facility is a complementary initiative aimed to assist the region in reaching its goals in terms of innovation and information and communication technology while fighting unemployment.

The facility plans to set up a fund to assist start-ups after their business ideas have been incubated into ideas that are bankable, as conventional banks are not keen to support start-ups.

Nganate further noted that though the facility is based in the region’s capital, the collaboration is a regional one.

“We would like to think that it will positively impact on employment and that we will be able to assist a lot of youth within our communities to come out of poverty and employ themselves and other youth,” he said.

Source: Namibia Press Agency