Terence Mukasa
Namibia is among other African countries with the potential to innovatively grow through its young people who are working day and night to find solutions to everyday problems.
Shepherd Nyambe (20) is one such innovator. He initiated ShephThyGuru Initiative (STGI) in 2020, after participating in the national innovation bazaar by TechHub.
STGI links developers, creators and inventors to appropriate bodies that can assist them with partnerships and sponsorships.
Before that, he invented the Shepherd Energy Saver in 2017 without an investor or partnership.
“A lot of young people came with very innovative ideas and pitched them. I told myself that I wasn’t just going to stay idle and fall for the system. So right there, I convinced myself to stay away a bit from inventing ideas, and rather dive into inventing inventors and innovators,” said Nyambe.
His non-profit organisation aims to implement programmes that discover innovativeness with the provision of mentorship and incubation through partnerships.
“It also builds the ideas into products and solutions that put them on a market, simply by bridging the gap between innovators, investors and partners,” he explained.
Nyambe has since been invited to attend the Africa World Model United Nations Conference in Cairo, Egypt from 17 to 20th December 2021.
The conference is aimed at promoting leadership among young people in entrepreneurship and politics, and Nyambe needs N$30 000 to cover his travel costs.
“I approached the government and various stakeholders for assistance, but some have declined and others such as FNB and Bank Windhoek have not yet responded,” stressed Nyambe.
He has been engaging in various start-up programmes and competitions that might help in boosting the funds needed.
The STGI recently won the Global Startup Award for being the best accelerator/incubator programme at national level and is vying for another award at regional level.
Meanwhile, the Shepherd Energy Saver was also nominated for the Global Startup Award (Southern Africa) after winning the ESG Tech category at national level.