As we approach the end of the second quarter of our financial year, allow me to provide an overview of the many activities that we have undertaken during this quarter and highlight our upcoming projects. In August 2019, The Innovation Hub reflected on the progress made by women in South Africa and the strides made by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of our country and their communities. We hosted several activities focused on women making their mark in the technology and innovation environment, to women at work and the impact that female entrepreneurs are making. From the 3 to 4 August 2019 we hosted the GirlCode Hackathon in collaboration with Deloitte, AWS and Ericsson, that aimed to identify key female leaders in the technology industry. The initiative was recognised by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who said that institutions like GirlCode have taken up the baton of the struggle towards a truly non-sexist and egalitarian society. This successful event was followed by the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency Group Women’s event, hosted at The Innovation Hub, where the likes of Dr Judy Dlamini, a medical doctor, MBA, doctor of business leadership, University of the Witwatersrand chancellor and one of South Africa’s most successful entrepreneurs and newly appointed Gauteng Growth and Development Agency CEO Ms Mosa Tshabalala spoke about their journeys and how they use their influence to bring about positive change for women. They shared both industry knowledge and strategies which will help women work towards enhancing their business value propositions.
On 23 August 2019, The Innovation Hub collaborated with Grofin, private development finance institution specialising in the finance and support of small and growing businesses (SGBs) and the South African Space Agency, a tenant that is housed at The Innovation Hub in hosting a Women Entrepreneur Networking session aimed at overcoming some of the key challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. These challenges included amongst others access to finance, overcoming the fear of failure as well as how to identify networking opportunities. The Speakers included Nan Mankai, Principal Investment Officer of Bigen Group, Tumi Sibanda, a certified life coach, business coach, inspirational speaker and author and Allegro Dinkwanyane, an entrepreneur and media personality. At all of these events, a host of other game changers, influencers and pioneers took to the stage to share their respective journeys, to network and to empower their fellow counterparts. I want to take this opportunity to thank GirlCode founder Ms Zandy Keebine, Deloitte, AWS, Ericsson, Grofin and SANSA for their eagerness and participation in the activities that are geared towards improving collaboration and the uplifting women.
We recently launched our first ever marketing campaign on the 29 August 2019. The marketing campaign is launched in order to improve awareness and the understanding of the role and function of The Innovation Hub amongst both our internal and external stakeholders.
The campaign theme of “We Guide Today So That You Can Build Tomorrow” which symbolises our efforts of fostering innovation and assistance offered to entrepreneurs to reach their full potential
To view the campaign advert please visit: https://we.tl/t-1XawnxyxYo
With regards to infrastructure, we are expanding The Innovation Hub as a Science and Technology Park by way of providing additional infrastructure with some of the projects completed and others currently underway:
1. To facilitate the closure of Hotel Street we completed the rehabilitation of the service road (which is the emergency access via Sappurs Contour Street in Lynnwood behind the koppie mountain leading to The Innovation Drive inside the park. The upgrade of Hotel street is delayed and will resume in October 2019, pending all approvals required.
2. Procurement of Biopark@Gauteng Phase 3 building which is an advanced manufacturing facility was completed and the service provider have resumed work. The building will add two basements parking’s and three stories of some 6000sqm, to provide to high growth biotechnology companies primarily in the health sector. The building is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.
3. The Innovation Hub is also piloting LED lighting technologies in partnership with The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Department of Energy to roll out the light emitting Diode demonstration project and use The Innovation Hub as the exhibition site as part of green economy initiative. It is envisaged that the implementation of this project will result in potential investors coming in and setting up shop at The Innovation Hub. The main aim is to demonstrate different technical solutions for LED street lighting to municipalities. The installation of LED will result in cost reduction in South Africa due to high efficiencies of the LED equipment used, which will also contribute to making South African economy more competitive and efficient. The LED equipment is produced locally in South Africa. These new technologies will reduce street lighting costs by approximately 60%.
The first phase of the project was completed and currently the second phase is in planning which will result with the rest of Max Theiller Street at The Innovation Hub precinct under LED lighting as a show case.
4. Approval was obtained from National Treasury in order to commence with construction of Enterprise Buildings 2 and 3 (EB2 and EB3) respectively.
The project is now letting and as soon as the required threshold of leases is obtained construction will start.
To stay abreast of all of the exciting entrepreneurship news, information and opportunities available at The Innovation Hub, connect with us on our social media platforms: follow us on Twitter @Innovhub, like us on Facebook InnovhubZA and Instagram Innovhub or visit our website www.theinnovationhub.com. Alternatively call our help desk on 012 844 0000. We are always pleased to hear from you.
On behalf of The Innovation Hub staff, I thank you for being part of our innovation ecosystem community……until next time stay blessed!!
