Hopolang Mokhopi
THE Limkokwing Entrepreneurship Acceleration Platform (LEAP) has awarded cheques of M129 166.80 to each of the 10 enterprises that were being incubated through the Lesotho Entrepreneurship Hub.
The seed financing facility funded by the World Bank summed up to M1 291 668.
The LEAP is one of the five Enterprise Support Organization (ESOs) engaged under the government ‘s Competitiveness and Financial Inclusion (CAFI) project.
The 10 enterprises awarded cheques are; Weekly Observer, Sustench, Nkhekhe innovation, Media Lab, Travel Tag, Techno meth, Nucleus, Inkstream Media, Rosemo Couture and Green lovers.
The award event was held at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) campus in Maseru yesterday.
LUCT Vice Chancellor, Advocate Tefo Macheli, said the motive was to produce business-minded graduates through the use of innovative technologies.
He said the LUCT allowed its graduates to use the university’s facilities free of charge to start businesses as it was not easy for them to rent offices after graduating.
“We use their teachers as mentors until their businesses are stable,” said Adv Macheli.
Adv Macheli said Limkokwing wouldn’t have achieved this goal had it not been for the CAFI project funded by World Bank.
The LEAP Manager, Malisema Ramaili, said LEAP was dedicated to nurturing and empowering small business development.
“Leap journey has been a remarkable one since it’s inception in 2011, evolving from its roots within the university, driving students internship programs to now actively collaborate with external stakeholders to catalyze the growth of start-ups that contribute immensely in the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
“Today we celebrate the expansion of our growth by incubating enterprises born out of the university, some out of the LEAP program running within the university, some of which graduated from other institutions of higher learning in Lesotho.
“We would not have done it without our dedicated team which includes business advisors and coaches that we have drawn from our academics, lecturers…..,” she said.
Speaking on behalf of the 10 awardees, Weekly Observer’s co-founder, Tṧepiso Serabele, said they had no capital when they started their newspaper, but their business managed to survive because of the space, WIFI and mentorship they got form the LEAP programme.
“We started the publication after completing our internship programmes at different media houses. It was frustrating because what we gained from those internships was media experience and not skills to start our own businesses,” said Ms Serabele.
She said most graduates had vision and business ideas which they could not implement due to lack of funding. She said they were thus proud to have been brave enough to implement theirs.
She thanked the Limkokwing University for giving them an opportunity to explore their business ideas and vision.
