Here are some of the big ideas that will drive growth in innovation across Africa

The 6th edition of the prestigious Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA2017) is ongoing in Accra. The event themed “African Innovation: Investing in Prosperity,” is a gathering of top innovators in Africa.

One of the major events of the day which was a high-level roundtable themed “Investing in Home-grown Innovation: Opportunities for Africa,” was conducted with the objective of creating a network of innovation practitioners in order to drive innovation research and practice in Ghana and Africa as a whole. It was also aimed at mobilising champions for innovation from policy institutions, the private sector, academia (research institutions, universities and polytechnics), international organisations and training institutions representatives.

Below are some key takeaways from the speakers that would drive growth in innovation across Africa

                          Yofi Grant, CEO of GIPC – Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC)

“We need the kind of education that will enable people to know that education will enable them to build their own world”

“The fact that most of the innovators are in the informal market makes it very difficult to bring them to the forefront”

“Being an Entrepreneur doesn’t make you a great business person ”

                                     Herman Chinery- Hesse – Founder of SOFTtribe

 

“The biggest impact that will help young people’s innovation sustained is government procurement ”

“We should also indoctrinate our society to admire successes”

“Innovation is a very small space and you need all the moral support. When there is negativity it poses a problem”

   Rowena Bethel, AIF Board Member and Member of the UN Committee of Experts in Public Administration (CEPA)

“Tackling the issue of ease of doing business and creating the enabling environment for local businesses to thrive”

“Ensuring that there is the appropriate legal framework in place. That is by ensuring that there is registration that gives the SMES the appropriate advice”

                             Jean Claude Bastos De Morais – Founder of African Innovation Foundation

“Ease of doing business can help tackle corruption”

“We have to change the spirit of the government and ease of doing business in order to save the economy”

“I believe we have a general speed gap, the young people don’t really believe in the future they believe in doing it now”

“Informal markets are better suited for the now and formal market ”

“ I don’t believe more in intellectuality but time to market “

Source: Venturesafrica