UNIVERSITY of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) undergraduate mechanical engineering student Nonjabulo Gasa will be representing South Africa at the upcoming international Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) Swiss Business Development Programme in Switzerland in October.
Gasa is the managing director of the multi-award winning tech and engineering startup company SmartiPants Technology, which is gearing up Africa for the 4th Industrial Revolution through their innovative services and developments.
“We are consultants involved in current tech trends, developing technologies such as Mechit Robotic Kits and drone smart enterprise systems for the agricultural sector. We also seek to empower communities with skills such as 3D printing, robotics, mechatronics and coding,” explained Gasa.
Gasa has been nominated as one of the finalists of the TIA-Swiss Business Development, which is a collaboration between the South African and Swiss embassies, that seeks to promote technology and science innovations and business in South Africa.
The international collaboration is supported by one of South Africa’s leading innovative organisations, TIA which will help 10 shortlisted businesses develop their tech-based business models.
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The TIA had kept its eye on Gasa after she had come first in the ENSPIRE Pitch Den hosted by UKZN InQubate and TIA in October 2018. ENSPIRE is UKZN’s Entrepreneurship Skills Programme developed and managed by UKZN InQubate.
The aim of the ENSPIRE programme is to provide UKZN students with an opportunity to learn basic business skills and implement these skills in starting up a business.
The programme is one of the university’s strategies to empower its students to face the growing unemployment crisis which societies globally are facing.
Speaking on her nomination as a finalist of the TIA-Swiss Business Development Programme, Gasa expressed excitement and gratitude to TIA and the Swiss Business Development Programme for this opportunity.
“I am extremely excited as this means I will be able to get help in commercialising my tech products from TIA. I will also get an opportunity to network and partner with other businesses and meet investors during my stay in Switzerland, which is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world,” she said.
Gasa is currently focusing on growing her business and looks forward to enrolling for an MBA.
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