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University of Botswana through the Faculty of Engineering and Technology (FET) hosted 40 students from various secondary schools across the country for the Youth Development Innovation Boot Camp. The purpose of the boot camp was to equip the participants with entrepreneurial skills and nurture their mindset of innovation and exposure to industry- relevant skills.

The Youth Development Innovation Boot Camp is part of a series of research activities by the University of Botswana under a scaling grant of approximately P2.2 million (US$200 000), that Principal Investigator, Dr Phillimon Odirile, received last year under the Alliance for African Partnership (AAP) grant programme, Partnerships for Innovative Research in Africa (PIRA). Dr Odirile is collaborating in the project with Michigan State University (MSU) and Infers Group in a project titled: US-Botswana Collaborative Research on Youth Empowerment and Education: SMART Infrastructure and Mobility Innovations for Resilient Community Health.

Priority areas for the project are Culture, Education and Youth Empowerment. Dr Odirile as principal investigator from University of Botswana, is collaborating with Infers Group Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Mr Abraham Mamela. Infers Group is a youth company whose core services is to create ecosystems, networks and smart cities that support innovation through a project economy, using a youth-employing-youth model designed to facilitate the development of generative youth owned enterprises.

According to Dr Odirile, the initiative was aimed at empowering young people from the ages of 15 to 24 years. He added that during the boot camp, participants were guided by experienced facilitators through a series of activities and interactive sessions, that exposed them to the latest trends in innovation and were engaged in the real-world problem-solving scenarios.

“We will provide our young participants with a unique platform to explore their passions, hone their skills, and develop an entrepreneurial mindset that will serve them well throughout their lives,” said Dr Odirile.

In his opening remarks at the official opening of the boot camp, Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Dr Olefile Molwane, highlighted the significance of empowering young people at an early stage to combat the rise of unemployment among youth.

“It should be noted that youth unemployment and skills mismatch has been a great concern to the government of Botswana with inferences and implications to the education and training providers such as the University of Botswana,” emphasized Dr Molwane.

Dr Molwane said the initiative resonated well with the University of Botswana’s strategy of Creating a Future for the Knowledge Generation, which highlights teaching and learning, research, innovation, and engagement as a pivotal to its mandate.