The two legs of SA Bio Plan are a biotechnology executive education programme and a business plan competition for bio-entrepreneurs. Participants receive a year of world class education and training. Selected teams are invited to take part in an executive education programme presented by Emory University's Goizueta Business School and South African experts. This is an accredited course of the Goizueta Business School.
According to the Project Manager of Bio Pad, Ms Zoleka Ngcete, ""The business plan competition strives to encourage the development of biotechnology businesses in South Africa. Participating individuals/teams work closely with a group of mentors to come up with a strategy and business plan that are then evaluated by an international panel of experts. The winner of the competition receives a prize of R100 000 as a non-dilutive investment, and stands a chance of receiving an investment in the business plan to the maximum value of R15 million over 5 years"". The people with the top 4 business plans have the additional opportunity of going to the USA for a 4 to 6 week internship programme.
Bio Plan recognises the need that there is to impart business knowledge to members of our country's scientific community – scientists do not automatically have business skills. The plan accepts applicants (individuals and teams) who are graduates and/or academics from the broader biosciences arena, and who have innovative business ideas that have commercial potential and/or could produce social benefit. It wants to give these people all the exposure they need in order to develop their ideas into business plans, to protect their ideas, to build their prototypes and eventually to take them into the marketplace.
There are workshops run by the SA Bio Plan that are open to anyone who registers for them. This year, these workshops take place in March. They will cover the fundamentals of Intellectual Property, Venture Capital, Life Sciences Entrepreneurship and Business Plan Writing and Development. They provide an excellent opportunity for participants to see the world of technological innovation in a new way.
To find out more about Bio Plan's workshops, you can visit http://www.innovationfund.ac.za/ Ms Zoleka Ngcete can be reached at zoleka@biopad.org.za if you have any further questions.
Article by George Mvalo & Lara Smith, Research & Technology Promotion Department
