BUSINESS REPORTER
Leading financial services institution, Stanbic Bank, has given entrepreneurs a boost by establishing an incubation hub which is championing innovation and prop up the operations of start-ups.
Head of Enterprise Banking at Stanbic Bank, Auxillia Kambasha (pictured), said the Stanbic Bank Incubation Hub will empower entrepreneurs that do have the requisite business know-how to run their operations despite the informal sector accounting for a large percentage of the workforce.
“While the informal sector has contributed to the country’s GDP significantly in different areas such as agriculture, technology and retail among others, the players stand to benefit from the Incubation Hub through its well thought out training and support programmes. The Hub’s programmes are tailor made, under a hybrid approach, to capacitate and upskill existing entrepreneurs and start-ups,” Kambasha said.
The programmes ride on pillars that include ideation, incubation, and acceleration. The Hub provides a nurturing, instructive and supportive environment for entrepreneurs at different stages of the business life cycle. It is a place for SMEs to come in, work and share innovative ideas for their existing or upcoming businesses.
Located in Harare, the Incubator Hub was opened in 2019 but closed in 2020 due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. It reopened in March 2023.
“The response from entrepreneurs has been good and all those who have passed through the Hub have benefitted from the support Stanbic Bank offers for their business to grow from incubation level to becoming fully established,” Kambasha said.
Over 150 young entrepreneurs have benefitted from invaluable Financial Literacy Training at the Hub in the six months it was operating after its inception in September 2019 up until the Covid-19-induced shut down in early March 2020.
Over 65 webinars were held during the lockdown period to ensure that the predominantly budding and young entrepreneurs were given the requisite skills to grow their enterprises.
Through the Hub, Stanbic also organises events for networking such as the Women’s Dendere, an event that was hosted in March for female entrepreneurs to learn from each other and discuss the challenges they may be facing in starting a business.
Tawanda Takure, the founder of Footnote, a digital marketing agency that works with brands in Zimbabwe and South Africa is one such beneficiary of the Hub. He started working at the Hub in October last year.
With the support of the Hub, he has grown his business and taken advantage of the networking opportunities.
“The Hub has helped me connect with fellow entrepreneurs whom I’ve managed to share experiences and ideas with so far,” said Takure.
He has also formed lucrative partnerships with other creatives at the Hub leading to the establishment of an innovative chatbot development start-up, Chatbox Pro.
