• On Monday, the Department of Innovation and Science and the United Nations Development Programme launched a new fund for techies and entrepreneurs at the university.
• The fund is set to help these students launch their innovative small businesses.
• Minister Blade Nzimande hopes that the fund will grow to up to R1 billion.

Monday is expected to see the launch of a new fund to empower innovators and tech-focused entrepreneurs across South African universities and TVET colleges.

Called the “Higher Education Innovation Fund,” it is being established to “provide essential support to innovative minds, enabling them to transition from ideas to sustainable enterprises, with a particular focus on spotlighting small businesses as pivotal job creators in our nation,” according to an announcement from the Department of Science and Innovation.

The launch of the small business fund will be presided over by Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, and has been created by the department in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in South Africa. It will take place at the Statistics South Africa main auditorium in Pretoria.

At the launch today, Nzimande said that government is hoping to raise up to R1 billion for the fund to provide to young techies and entrepreneurs for them to pursue their dreams of starting their own business.

“Our vision is to grow the Higher Education Innovation Fund to R1 billion and we are also inviting private sector companies and other funding institutions, some of whom are represented here today, to come on board and help us achieve this objective,” said the minister.

“The crux of our mission with the Higher Education Innovation Fund is transforming our universities into dynamic hubs for innovations,” added Mr Maxwell Gomera, Resident Representative, UNDP South Africa.

“Doing that will not only accelerate the path from research to commercialization but also ensure that innovations directly contribute to socio-economic development.”

Nzimande recently also saw the launch of a new comprehensive university student funding model, one that essentially acts as government-funded student loans. The fund is organised by NSFAS, and has been used by students who don’t necessarily meet the criteria to receive a bursary, but want government aid for funding.

The minister has faced controversy recently for the many ongoing issues NSFAS has been dealing with since 2023 and the launch of the direct payment system. Here’s hoping the Higher Education Innovation Fund is handled with more seriousness that the nearly R50 billion NSFAS.

[Image – CC BY-ND 2.0 GovernmentZA on Flickr]