Whether all you have is an idea or you’re actively into the early stages of your company’s development, you’ve probably anticipated the need for start-up capital. The good news is the government has finalized and has started accepting applications towards the roll out of the $2,5 million Information Communication Technology (ICT) innovation fund aimed at availing financial resources to support Tech start-ups.
The Zimbabwe ICT Innovators Showcases last year two events in Bulawayo and Harare on 14 September and 28 September 2016 respectively. Speaking at the event in Bulawayo, Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier Services, Supa Mandiwandira said that $2,5 million is already set aside for the fund, to kick start, as government creates a conducive environment to stir the development of ICTs in Zimbabwe.
The Minister is on record saying the ICT innovation fund was born out of complaints from the players in the telecommunications sector who wanted the Government to either ban or stifle use of over the top services (OTTs) such as WhatsApp, Viber and Skype.
The purpose of the Funds is to identify, harvest, support and capacitate young ICT innovators and their innovations around Zimbabwe to develop their ideas into bankable solutions for Zimbabwe and the global market.
The regulator, POTRAZ, yesterday sent out a statement calling for applications:
Are you an ICT Innovator, start-up or entrepreneur with a brilliant innovation or solution? Potraz has introduced an exciting Innovation Drive and at identifying, funding and capacitating unique ICT innovations and innovators
If you are an ICT innovator, send your descriptive business proposal, together with your financial projections and budget for consideration to: innovationdrive@potraz.gov.zw for consideration by .
The ICT Innovation Drive is designed to promote ICT entrepreneurship as a desirable career path.
How To Apply ICT Innovation Fund
If you have a start-up idea or a project you are working on you should send your business plan to innovationdrive@potraz.gov.zw before end of month (30 May 2017).
The ICT Innovation Fund has no minimum fees or maximum ceiling for any submission, but the Innovative Idea should be should be able to state and support its own business case for financial assistance. A start-up is usually a combination of two things: an interesting problem or need, and an approach for solving that problem. It is easy to come up with big and worthy problems, but they tend to go beyond the scope of the typical entrepreneur.
