College of Business and Economics | Annual Report 2022 88 Technopreneurship Centre (TPC) Ronny Mabokela Head: Technopreneurship Centre, School of Consumer Intelligence and Information Systems College of Business and Economics OVERVIEW The Technopreneurship Centre (TPC) is an innovation hub that tackles the most pressing challenges faced by industries and society. Our students work alongside renowned academics and industry experts to research, ideate and solve these challenges. TPC is a unique initiative within the University that welcomes individuals from all educational backgrounds, not just those with information technology expertise, who want to contribute to our success. The TPC has experienced its most successful and active year yet in 2022. We held two board meetings with our diverse experts. We hosted various successful innovation hackathons and datathons, including the TPC Blockchain Innovation Bootcamp and Hackathon in partnership with QuidPro & Crypto Valley Venture Capital (CV VC), as well as the datathon in collaboration with the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa, an entity of the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT). The Head of the Centre, Mr Ronny Mabokela, was invited as a tech innovation judge and to mentor students in various innovation competitions. We participated in 15 innovation hackathons and won 12 of them, including two significant awards from Telkom’s SATANIC CYBER HACK and an international HackCorruption hosted by Accountability Lab (AL) and the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), supported by the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) at the US State Department, through the Anti-Corruption Solutions Through Emerging Technologies (ASET) programme. Through our innovation hackathons, we aim to foster an entrepreneurial ecosystem and develop innovative solutions. Our activities were remarkably successful, and we are proud to have emerged victorious in numerous hackathon competitions, including international ones. TALENT MANAGEMENT AND CAPACITY BUILDING The Centre adhered to a rigorous selection process to recruit new students as in previous years. The head of the Centre, Mr Ronny Mabokela, was assisted by eight TPC Ambassadors, including Mr Emmanuel Mbuya, Mr Surprise Ngoveni, Ms Buhle Mpala, Mr Eugene Ndlovu, Mr Chadrack Mulamba, Ms Malebo Moleleki, Ms Lerato Tlhako, and Ms Angelic Mokoena. One hundred and sixty students from various departments across the University have answered the Centre’s call to join. Our Centre comprises essential staff and partners, including the Centre Head, YES interns, student assistants, TPC Ambassadors, and many students specialising in development, coding, and hacking. We also have industry and academic mentors from esteemed companies such as Polygon, Binance, Nedbank, CVVC, Microsoft, Huawei, Ozoo, iTweb, Geekulcha, CISCO, and Standard Bank. We offer our students the guidance of several regular mentors, including Dr Tebogo Bokaba (UJ), Mr Vincent Rammai, Mr Tiyani Nghonyama, Mr Mixo Ngobeni, Mr Muzi Ntombela, Dr Oluwapelumi Giwa, Mrs Tebogo Bokaba (UJ), Ms Sina Legong, Ms Keitumetsi Tsotetsi, Dr Stella Bvuma (UJ), Dr Charlotte Wu, Dr Naomi Isabirye, Mr Steve Jump, Mr Kwena Mashala, Mr Tshegofatso Malope and other international partners such as Mr Foster Awintiti Akugri from the Hacklab Foundation (Ghana), Ms Alexis Baskelovich, and Mr Ron Kalderon (Israel). The Centre caters to undergraduate, honours, master’s, and doctoral students. Our team is a formidable force, boasting a diverse and dynamic group of industry partners, collaborators, students, experts, innovators, and hackers. Each member brings unique skills and backgrounds that are essential to the success of our work, including the development of groundbreaking ideas and innovative solutions for the Centre and beyond.
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