TheNeoHub: Fostering A Knowledge-Based Economy Through Innovation

TheNeoHub:

Fostering A Knowledge-Based Economy Through Innovation

By Lorraine Kinnear

Zindzi Letsididi is the Founder and Director of TheNeoHub, a privately owned innovation lab aimed at co-creating, collaborating, incubating, accelerating, and offering a one-stop shop for innovative start-ups and center for innovation from the grassroots. Letsididi established her venture on the notion of celebrating our natural talents by nurturing the youth and helping businesses reach higher lengths and prosper where they operate.

A visionary and purpose-driven leader with a focus on youth development, digital transformation, and sustainable business development, Letsididi hosts a wealth of knowledge and experience from different organisations such as Botswana Insurance Fund Management (Bifm), First National Bank of Botswana (FNBB), and Stanbic Bank Botswana. She also serves as the Founder of Awake Arise and Shine NGO. She has also diligently served as a Board Member of the Board of Directors of Botswana Privatisation Asset Holdings under the Minister of Finance and Economic Development. She has also served as Business Development and Investment Consultant for various companies and SMMEs, providing growth strategies and investment planning. She has spent the past few years mentoring young women, empowering them to live a purpose-driven life marked by leadership, accountability, and societal contribution.

Unpacking TheNeoHub Increasingly influential innovation hubs in cities such as Tel Aviv, Barcelona, London, and Paris are inspiring an entrepreneurial

culture around the world. TheNeoHub is an innovation hub in Botswana specifically designed to hone the entrepreneurial culture and inspire the next generation of innovators. Since its inception in 2020, the Hub has demonstrated resilience and growth. As we emerge from the pandemic, it is refreshing to have an innovation hub like TheNeoHub collaborating with government and other private stakeholders to help build the National Economy. Featured alongside other Innovation Hubs on InsideAfrica CNN Africa, this organisation is ushering in a new era of a knowledge-based economy.

Under the stellar leadership of Letsididi, TheNeoHub is a center for co-creation, collaboration, innovation, and scaling businesses while being friendlier to individuals and the environment in which they operate. The primary goal of this organisation is to serve as a one-stop shop for innovative entrepreneurs, with a deliberate interest in developing and propelling stakeholders toward becoming sustainable key players made locally but recognized globally. Most entrepreneurs have innovative ideas that can have a positive impact on the world however need a dedicated partner to journey with them through at least the first few stages of their entrepreneurial journey, and this hub is in place for this exact reason.

TheNeoHub Initiatives Beneficiaries TheNeoHub supports startups, connects and develops the local start-up ecosystem, and has a diverse portfolio of service offerings aimed at increasing economic activity in Botswana by introducing sustainable new enterprises. Children as young as five years old are key beneficiaries, with assistance in areas such as learning the importance of saving and investing, devising technology to solve problems, taking on leadership, and developing an entrepreneurial mindset from a young age. "One of our flagship activities is entrepreneurship for kids, from as young as age 5 until about 14 years old. This is in place to instill a culture of leadership and innovation from a young age," noted Letsididi.

As an organization that encourages entrepreneurial and innovative thinking across all age groups, university students are also an important age group that benefits from TheNeoHub. Within the business development unit, university students can test the commercial viability of their startups. They typically benefit from the Knowledge Centre, an information-sharing center aimed at demystifying and engaging young people in national-interest issues. Further to this, they also have an Open Innovation Space where they can connect with other professionals to benchmark and gain inspiration

for putting their ideas into action. Partners who are open to sharing and receiving information allow outsiders to contribute to specific companies. These third parties will work as consultants for TheNeoHub.

Entrepreneurs will feel at home at TheNeoHub as it offers a variety of services aimed at assisting various ventures in optimising their solutions to meet the needs of their end users. The organisation helps startups that use technology to enhance processes and disrupt industries, as well as those that do not use technology but find other new, creative, and better ways to do things. TheNeoHub uses a collaborative approach to establish the

needs of the organisations in question, consult on growth strategies, and match them with investors. The wider team at TheNeoHub believes that nurturing such an essential culture will be the cornerstone of the knowledge-based society Botswana is gravitating towards. Letsididi shared, "We need to embrace innovation as a part of an evolving economy. Innovation in Africa specifically is pivotal to unlocking unlimited possibilities."

Shifting Botswana to a knowledgebased economy Critical thinkers, inventors, and innovators are empowering their communities and embracing a new era where information, not resources such as minerals, could define Botswana’s economic landscape and future. A knowledge-based economy is definitely where individuals and organisations need to be investing quite strongly.

“TheNeoHub is preparing people to embrace a whole new world. We live in times that are constantly evolving. A 5-year-old who's going to be 20 years old at a point in time needs to be handed the right tools such as leadership and innovation. We want to inculcate such essential skills in future leaders to prepare them for the future,” Letsididi expressed this when speaking about their positioning in the National Vision of transitioning to a knowledge-based economy.

TheNeoHub recognises that young people are critical to advancing sustainable development and as such, youth issues (such as unemployment) must be seriously considered in the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals to ensure possible solutions to societal challenges. Addressing all of the problems of youth is a genuine step toward a knowledge-based economy. Thus, The Young Leaders of Botswana was established to gain traction in moving Botswana toward a knowledge-based economy. The initiative recently made history by hosting His Excellency the President of the Republic of Botswana, Mokgweetsi E. K. Masisi,

as a keynote speaker at the launch of TheNeoHub's expanded mandate.

As both a center for change markers and future leaders, TheNeoHub is a clear cut above the rest. Letsididi expressed, Since the inception of the business great strides have been made in the space of youth development and future skills development.

Investing in young people to help address skills shortages could provide a long-term solution to recovering from the economic effects of COVID-19 as well as any future hurdles that different nations could face in future. TheNeoHub has put in place a plan that is both commendable and inspirational, providing essential skills needed by future leaders.

For Letsididi, doing so was crucial as she reflects, “I’ve had people invest in me and help unleash my potential so TheNeoHub was established from the very idea of creating spaces where individuals, especially children can tap into their creative potential. We believe that everyone has a gift and everyone came into this lifetime to be a gift to their immediate communities.”

She understands the importance of creating a space where individuals can feel supported in pursuit of their dreams.