Supporting Student Entrepreneurship with the University of Pretoria Business Incubator (UPBI) and the Department of Library Services’ (DLS) MakerSpace

Globalisation has made the world a fiercely competitive environment which has extended into South Africa. As such students entering the market need to be upskilled to compete in this arena and create opportunities to not only achieve greatness on a personal level, but support the community as a whole. For this reason, it is a key strategic objective of the Department of Library Services (DLS) to support entrepreneurship across disciplines. The question that arises is how to support a student with an extraordinary vision and a passion to drive positive development? The Department of Library Services’ (DLS) MakerSpace in collaboration with the Department of Business Management Sciences has joined a program to support youthful entrepreneurs to realize their ideas and make them a reality. This program is known as the University of Pretoria Business Incubator or UPBI.

UPBI is a support function which selects top candidates and guides them with their concepts through the complex world of business. This is done through various initiatives such as a talk series, teaching practices on how to pitch, internal presentations, mentoring and consultation to create and grow their business.

The MakerSpace has integrated with UPBI by offering an area where ideas can be formulated through a stimulating and collaborative environment that is able to integrate a variety of disciplines. With a hands on approach and experienced individuals available to support and guide these passionate ideas, there is no limit to what can be achieved. Through this partnership entrepreneurial students will have access to not only advanced technologies, but support on how to generate ideas into workable solutions that can benefit the ever changing South African and global markets.