To leverage entrepreneurship, Standard Bank opens Incubator
Opens in June, in Maputo, the Standard Bank Business Incubator a space where entrepreneurship training programs will be developed, as well as events such as Seedstars, Google Startup, Entrepreneurship Week as well as products and Service demonstrations for bank's customers.
The Incubator is located on the first floor of the Baixa branch, Rua dos Desportistas. The bank aims to offer technical support, management and complementary training to entrepreneurs and allow innovation process and access to new technologies in small businesses.
Apart from young entrepreneurs and small businesses, companies already established in the market can find at the Incubator all administrative and marketing support, as well as technical support for the development of their products.
"The incubator will implement five activities. We want to train to fill the gaps of the entrepreneurs, in terms of skills. To provide service support for business growth and access to markets, "said Sasha Vieira, adding that as a bank" we are in a strategic position to connect entrepreneurs with a network of customers and suppliers, as well as assist in mentoring on access models to funds".
Following last year's entrepreneurship week in Pemba, Cabo Delgado province and Lionesses of Africa in Maputo, the incubator plans to have an impact on other provinces in the country.
"We will organize more events in Beira and Pemba, as well as work in order to expand our actions to Tete, Nampula and Zambézia. In Maputo, we will have the Seedstars Maputo - 2017, and the Flash edition, which is Global Impact Acceleration, "she said.
This Bank’s entrepreneurial initiative has currently several public and private partners, such as IPEME- Institute for Promotion of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises; The Ministries of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Industry and Trade; Shell; And the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Unfortunately, in our reality the entrepreneurs have in the first three years a great possibility of failing. Our aim is to try to support our own entrepreneurs increasing the opportunities of success in the early years.
This physical space, as Sasha Vieira said, will bring more opportunities for business growth and the sustainability of business itself. In five years of life of this rich experience there is a boom in the database of clients who were supported by Standard Bank and were successful.
"We are also studying solutions for the Bank's retired employees, to support them through training and income generation, in order to contribute to a high standard of living," concluded Sasha Vieira.