Joint initiative to promote ICT and electronics sector in KZN

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17 November 2004 News

In a joint initiative to spur growth in the ICT and electronics sectors in KwaZulu-Natal, Mark Shuttleworth's venture capital companies HBD (Here Be Dragons) and Upstarts Incubating Innovators, and the Embizeni Innovation Support Centre in Durban have agreed to work together to identify and support innovators with great ideas.

The Embizeni Innovation Support Centre assists KZN-based individuals and companies to commercialise innovative ideas by providing legal, marketing, technical, financial, coaching, mentoring, networking and managerial support.

Its interim CEO, Steve Giddings, says that until now neither HBD nor Upstarts have had a significant presence in KZN. "Their interest in working with us is an indication of how far the centre has developed. It is most encouraging and demonstrates the tremendous vote of confidence they have in the province and the potential for growth and development."

The three organisations will work closely in their respective business objectives. HBD offers a full service venture capital targeted at the upper end of the investment chain, while Upstarts focuses on entry level or early stage innovation.

Embizeni's role will be to manage the innovation process and work with HBD and Upstarts in co-developing markets.

"Innovation management is about reducing risk. This is attractive to HBD because if they know that there is a hands-on management charter then the chances of success rise dramatically and their willingness to invest is far greater," says Giddings.

Embizeni's strategy, he says, is to manage the commercialisation process of an innovation. The innovations it recommends to venture capital companies are likely to be of a high quality because a high element of risk has been reduced thereby giving the investor more certainty going forward.

For more information contact Embizeni Innovation Support Centre, +27 (0)31 273 1500.

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