Innovation Summit encourages entrepreneurship growth
The SA Innovation Summit, hosted by the Ekurhuleni Metro, was held from September 21 to 24, at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre.
Thousands of delegates from different sectors attended this ninth annual summit.
The summit brings businesses, academics, innovators and government’s policymakers together, to create and influence the space that makes it possible to grow ideas into businesses and programmes that positively impact the economy.
Different speakers from different companies spoke at the four-day gathering, igniting entrepreneurship to encourage growth.
Hennie Botes, CEO of Moladi, used the breakaway entrepreneurial innovation session to discuss the importance of ”solving the problem and selling the solution”, therefore encouraging growth from an entrepreneurial point of view.
He said that, as an entrepreneur, there is always an audience watching and getting a message across is not always easy.
“Along the way there’s creative destruction, where people are sometimes not able to cope with the demand,” he explained.
“It is wise to train unemployed people to build and make bricks, in order for them, too, to build for the homeless. In that way we are growing our economy. It would be wise, also, for entrepreneurs to work closely with government to grow the economy of the country.”
Jason Goldberg, co-founder of Edge Growth, spoke about the innovators nightmare of succeeding yourself in failure.
According to Goldberg, a number of entrepreneurs in high growth businesses ”succeed their way in failure”, after starting out strongly in terms of product branding and market traction.
He discussed how to avoid no man’s land if you are an investor and how you pre-empt and avoid losing money.
Goldberg explained the process of an innovator as he/she invents ideas, then an entrepreneur hustles his way through mud until he/she makes it.
“Avoiding the no man’s land is sometimes difficult, but people should know their strengths and weaknesses. This means a process to prioritise, identify and build your growth engine,” he said.
The Ekurhuleni Metro has, in addition, introduced Fabrication Laboratories, as they have noticed the interest among young people towards the labs.
The main objective for the Fabrication Laboratories is to accelerate growth for township entrepreneurs through innovation and promoting smart city facilities for every professional institution.
