The Zimbabwe government today (Wednesday) has unveiled the national ICT policy together with the $7 million innovation fund which will help start-ups with “bankable” ideas to kick start their business.
The Innovation Drive fund was announced in March 2016, and it took two months to fruition. 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 government has shifted from being a transformation laggard to being a catalyst for change.
Speaking at the launch President Mnangagwa said the government was committed to speeding up the implementation of e-governance to enhance communication.
“My government remains committed to speeding up the implementation of e-governance which will enhance communication and services between government to government, government and business, government and citizens, government to employee as well as the back office processes to smoothen interactions within the entire government machinery.” He said.
“We recognize that e-governance will ensure that services are available to citizens in a convenient, efficient and transparent manner. In addition, e-governance will help in the eradication of corruption through automated systems which promote bureaucratic impediments and bottlenecks,” President Mnangagwa added.
Just by looking at where we are today, we can already see how powerful technology has been in shaping our world. Through the years, scientists have introduced cutting-edge technologies intended to make life a lot more convenient for humans. Technological advancements happen so fast that people’s current way of life always seems out of date relative to these advancements.
The President added that the adoption of cutting-edge technologies will be an important reactor in transforming Zimbabwe’s economy under the new dispensation.
Minister of Information Communication and Technology and Cybersecurity, Hon Supa Mandiwandira said the telcos contribute one percent of their revenue to the fund. This means that the fund would have received $5,9 million from the $590,2 million revenue generated by mobile telecommunications firms in the first three quarters of last year.
The introduction of new-fangled pieces of knowledge especially in the fields of medicine and information technology has radically altered this world in so many ways, and this becomes even more evident in the continuous development of forward-looking devices and systems that people before never knew could exist.
“The ICT Innovation Drive and the National ICT Policy is expected to create an environment in which Zimbabwe’s young talent can shine and be rewarded for creating innovations of national interests,” said Mnangagwa.
Below is a list of the “bankable” start-ups which received funding from the innovation drive.
- Oyos
- Purple Signs
- Shift Organic Technologies
- Red Pen
- Afrimom
- Native Project
