UCT GSB's Foster-Pedley joins Namibia Business Innovation Project

It is designed to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial Namibian companies.

Funded by Finnish Aid funds and run through the government of Namibia and the Namibia Polytechnic, the landmark project is set to massively increase support for entrepreneurial firms in Namibia.

“The Namibian government has a particular interest in creativity and innovation and has assembled a multinational team to grapple with the issues and ensure it is well designed and executed. We are currently designing the structure, business plan and methods of the incubator and will be presenting back to the Namibian government and the funders in the next few months,” said Foster-Pedley.

Projects such as these incubators, he added, are critical to building enterprises that make a major contribution to the growth of national economies as well as the Southern African region as a whole.

As part of his role as an advisor, Foster-Pedley will also be giving public talks in Namibia on innovation and creativity in the near future.

Professor Frank Horwitz, director of the UCT GSB, extended congratulations to Foster-Pedley on behalf of the business school.

“This reflects much credit on yourself and your standing and will no doubt benefit the School, raising its profile in the region,” he said.

Foster-Pedley is a leading thinker globally in the area of creativity and innovation in business strategy. He was director of the Southern Innovation Centre and Business Incubator in New Zealand and also sat on the Advisory board for the New Zealand Innovation Centre.

As the founding director and designer of the UCT GSB's Executive MBA programme, he led the team that integrated systems thinking and workplace learning into the GSB curriculum.

Foster-Pedley was responsible for taking the concept of the Executive MBA into the executive short course market. He worked closely with Old Mutual on their Corporate Business School design, both in South Africa and London. He works with a number of multinational companies including BHP Billiton, SABMiller, Johnson & Johnson and Nestle in Africa, Europe and Asia. He currently also runs GSB Executive Education short courses, including Creategy and Smart strategy.