Designed with the main focus of commercialising innovation from rural and township areas, Khoebo Innovation Promotion Programme (KIPP) offers financial and non-financial support to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) who have developed new products or services with market potential .
According to the Senior Account Manager of the KIPP, Ms Refilwe Sekutu, the main objective of the programme is to enable early stage innovative MSMEs to penetrate the market with their locally developed and market ready products and services, resulting in a more competitive economic environment and thereby facilitating economic growth for South African.
KIPP works with technology development funding instruments such as the Support for Industrial Innovation ( SPII) programme of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) which assist innovators with a proof of concept to develop working prototypes as well as fund the protection of Intellectual property for innovators to acquire rights on their inventions.
“KIPP is divided into two sub-schemes namely, Small, Medium Enterprise Growth Scheme (SMEGS) which offers a loan funding and the Grassroots Innovator Facilitation (GIFs) which is a grant fund towards commercialisation of innovative products and services developed within communities. Most of these products and solutions arise from a need to solve a particular challenge at local level,” said Sekutu.
She also mentioned the fund provides non-financial support to assist with certification, development of a marketing strategy, governance, mentorship, and company policies.
“Although the programme’s emphasis is on township and rural entrepreneurs, we are not excluding anyone outside these setting, but only locally developed innovations, both products and services across all sectors, that are already fully developed and are market-ready will be considered under the KIPP fund,” she added.
The Programme Manager of Khoebo Innovation Promotion Programme (KIPP), Ms Refilwe Sekutu unpacking the scheme during a workshop hosted in Kimberly, Northern Cape.
Media enquiries and interview requests:
Bongani Lukhele – Director: Media Relations
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E-mail: BLukhele@thedtic.gov.za
Issued by: The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic)
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