Ms. Gopolang Prudence Setumo is the Senior Manager of Skills Development Programme, CoachLab, of The Innovation Hub. She is among the first staff members to have helped shape the vision and implement the mission of The Innovation Hub. She holds two Postgraduate Diplomas one in Business Management and the other in Project and Programme Management and is currently enrolled for a MBA degree with Regenesys Business School.

Ms. Setumo has 16 years of experience in the innovation sphere, skills development and supply chain management. She first started at Telkom as a Supply Management Temp in 2001. Thereafter Setumo was accepted into the SETA internship programme, where she was placed at The Innovation Hub to complete an internship in programme management.

Six months into her internship, she was offered a permanent position as an administrative PA for CoachLab and what is now the Maxum Business Incubator. In 2005 when The Innovation Hub came to occupy the Science and Technology Park, Ms Setumo was promoted to CoachLab Coordinator.

As a coordinator, Ms Setumo helped to establish Coachlab@Vaal and CoachLab@JCSE, earning her yet another promotion to Business Relations Manager for CoachLab Skills Development Programme.

She currently oversees The CoachLab programmes which are; Green Learnership (New Venture Creation NQF Level 4) which is a programme that offers students who can be developed into becoming entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs - individuals who can bring about innovation within corporate environments. The programme is offered for 12 months after which the participants are encouraged to start their own small businesses with the support of TIHMC’s Climate Innovation Centre (CIC). The entry level to the programme is a National Certificate - NQF level 4 and higher. Another of CoachLabs programmes, managed by Setumo is, Industry Exposure which is an Internship programme aimed at recruiting unemployed graduates with three-year degree or diploma qualifications. The objective is to assist unemployed and unskilled graduates who require either industry exposure or those who wish to expand their grasp of either one of TIH priority sectors.

Her thoughts about Skills Development in South Africa is that the programme is very critical as this affords the youth the much needed exposure after having gone through the theoretical aspect of studies. This makes them better prepared for industry add value.   Just by participating in any of the programmes offered by The Innovation Hub, one gets presented with an opportunity to also explore prospects of becoming an entrepreneur.  Skills Development plays an important role to curb the challenge of unemployment amongst the youth whilst overcoming social disadvantage.