On July 30, 2019, we hosted the first of a new series of events under the name “Corporate Unwind” aimed at bringing together innovators and top corporate leaders to share their experiences and professional journey to inspire growth among innovators in Tanzania at our premises in Mikocheni A, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The new series will be conducted 4 times every year, featuring top influential corporates in the Tanzanian ecosystem as they are invited to speak about their passion, tools and the different hacks they use to stay on top of their game while running the multi-million business establishments and companies in the various industries.
This event assembled professionals from Mobile Telco’s, Tech/innovation Hubs, Financial Institutions, Industry Associations, the Private sector, Corporates, Entrepreneurs, Ecosystem builders, Startups, university professors, Development partners, Embassy’ partners and key players in the Tech and Innovation community.
Mr. Hisham Hendi, Managing Director of Vodacom Tanzania was the main Guest Speaker for the opening series of “Corporate Unwind” and spoke under the theme “What It Takes to Be a Leader in the Growing Innovation of Tanzania." He shared deep insights on challenges one goes through in the corporate industry and how to remain relevant, functional yet inspiring. Mr. Hisham also emphasized Vodacom Tanzania’s interest in working with startups and innovators to move the Ecosystem forward and mentioned networking as one of the key important tools to exposure and opening doors to meeting different people and acquiring a bank of knowledge through every interaction.
“I am excited to be here, and to have been chosen as the first one to speak to these great minds”. He said.
Speaking during the event Smart Codes CEO Mr. Edwin Bruno said that “Smart Lab believes strongly in building a better Innovation ecosystem and to achieve this, we provide a platform for creating and inspiring innovators, Students, Startups, entrepreneurs, corporates and other responsible parties to learn from each other on how to operate in this ever-growing, ever-changing Innovation Ecosystem.
“We are on the road to bridging the gap between Learning Institutions, startups and corporates, and the result will be to create top-notch products, solutions and services that answer to unique problems that were identified from ideation stages. By tapping into the Students, startups and corporates minds and equipping each one with the right tools of support while using the different programs like “Corporate Unwind” our new initiative, startups and innovators will be able to learn what it feels like to be in corporates shoes and vice versa and in return adapt and produce positive results on both ends.
As one of the leading innovation hubs in Tanzania, who deal with startups every day, we realized this gap needs to be filled so we invited successful corporates with vast experience in different sectors to join us for an engaging discussion and networking that will be beneficial for all parties to leverage on what is needed for the ecosystem and in the end come up with market fit solutions. We are very grateful for Mr. Hisham Hendi for honoring our invitation and accepting to share his knowledge” He said.
He also concluded by saying that “this is a first step in the larger objective of building a community of Learning Institutions, Entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem supporters between the Corporate and Innovation Industry. The goal is to create an opportunity for innovators, telecom companies, financial institutions, investors and thought leaders to work together to improve the Innovation ecosystem across Tanzania and Africa but as well create a space for open, dynamic, valuable and spontaneous dialogue.
With the Corporate Unwind event, we hope to foster more collaborations between the growing African innovation ecosystem and corporates by bridging the gap that has been existing for long between Learning Institutions, Startups, and Corporates.