peterRutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Correspondent
YOUNG people from across the country left scores of visitors at the just ended National Youth Business Expo in awe with world class exhibits showcasing innovation incorporating technology to help accelerate the country’s development.
Organised by the Ministry of Youth, Sports, Arts and Recreation with support from the African Development Bank, the expo ran from Thursday and ended yesterday under the theme: “Revitalising and Empowering Youth Business Across Value Chains.”
Young people from across the country came through to showcase their products and services which all had one key common feature: innovation.
Innovation as a concept entails the process that an individual or organisation undertakes to conceptualise brand new products, processes, and ideas, or to approach existing products, processes, and ideas in new ways.
Cognisant of the world’s challenges brought about by a number of ills that include the impacts of climate change, and global pandemics like the Covid-19 as well as the desire to showcase the uniqueness of the country and continent, the innovation exhibited was nothing less than articulating these.
Modern businesses grow and succeed in today’s corporate climate for a myriad of reasons. Some are known for their products, others for their services, and others still for less easily-defined factors such as strong brand loyalty or captivating advertising campaigns.
If one were to look at the organisations that truly stand out from the pack today it would be clear that they all have one common factor: all embrace innovation.
Sunday News caught up with some of the individuals who exhibited world-class innovative products. One such individual was Mr Msindazwe Ndlovu, the managing director of Noble Savage, a construction company that makes innovative building materials for the construction industry using recycled waste.
Exhibits by the company that included kitchen tops made of crushed glass, tiles made of sand and recycled plastic bottles stood out as one of the best innovative products which caught the eye of the news crew.
“We are a construction company that makes innovative building materials for the construction industry. We recycle waste plastic and glass to manufacture eco-friendly building materials which are lighter, stronger, durable and affordable. We make roof tiles, pavers and counter tops,” said Mr Ndlovu.
While the company has also empowered some communities who sell recyclable waste to them, it has also gone a step further to prototype some of the most innovative products that will ensure the country’s renewable energy trajectory is reached in no time.
“We have even gone a step further and prototyped a solar roof tile. All this is so that we can create a product which is artistically beautiful to an environmentally conscious individual who seeks for something durable.
“Our vision is to be the leading producer of low-cost material which incorporates high technology to help accelerate Africa’s transition to clean renewable energy,” said Mr Ndlovu.
The innovation witnessed at the just ended expo is testimony of the positive response to innovation hubs that have been established in the country’s six state universities.
The innovation hubs are part of a paradigm shift that has seen tertiary education playing a central role in developing appropriate home-bred innovations and technologies for the local industrial sector.
This will help spur the country towards the envisaged status. This is a departure from the previous system, which was shaped to undertake only teaching, research and community engagement.
The purpose of universities under the old system was not to produce goods and services but only to design them.–@nyeve14
Online Reporter