The university of Cape Town (UCT) was established 179 years ago. For the first time in all its history, the university has officially established a permanent educational space in a Cape Town community known as Philippi Village.
This project is backed by both the university’s Graduate School of Business and the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The program is designed to not only bring the resident of Philippi Village together, but also Nyanga, Gugulethu, and Khayelitshta.
The setup in Philippi Village consists of workspaces, lecture spaces, lounge areas, and meeting rooms. Up until now, there have been roughly over 100 workshops and educational programs held there; all with an attendance of about 3,000 students.
Mills Soko, the director associate professor at GSB, seeks to establish a bridge through the widely-separated country on a geographical level. The divide creates a lack of understanding, connections, and networking from country to country. Soko has sought to better reconnect the population of Africa through the establishment of this facility.
This educational space has been operating for one year now and has already brought so many together. Another aim of the space is to congratulate all the startups and initiatives that have begun there.
Entrepreneurship and innovation is highly promoted and supported at the GSB Solution Space.