Namibia’s social impact incubator RLabs has held it’s annual graduation ceremony, with 150 graduates having completed the educational and skills-based Academy programme.
Throughout the 11 month programme – which ran from January until November -, participants completed courses covering topics such as social media, project management, events management, photography and entrepreneurship.
“I am so proud of all the youths that successfully completed the course and I believe that they have potential to be the change agents in their communities,” said Asnath Kambunga, RLabs Namibia coordinator.
The RLabs Academy programme asks participants to attend lessons twice per week, studying a range of skills-based topics.
Some of the participants also go out to rural areas to train and empower others in the same courses they have been trained on; while others get the chance to work with local entrepreneurs, typically doing social media and marketing for the entrepreneurs.
Graduates of the programme interested in starting up businesses will be supported and receive mentorship from the Namibia Business Innovation Institute (NBII).
RLabs was founded in Cape Town, South Africa, as an environment to support community-driven innovation and reconstruction in areas battling complex socio-economic challenges. The incubator aims to empower its members to make a difference within their own communities.
The social enterprise has expanded both across and from Africa, and is now also active in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.