Innovation Spaces - Kingdom of Lesotho

Innovation Spaces are gradually emerging focused primarily around the Basotho Enterprises Development Corporation (BEDCO) , the School Technology Innovation Centre (STIC) and Innovation Hub at the National University of Lesotho. The Vodacom Lesoto Foundation with support from BEDCO and UNDP is also funding the Vodacom Innovation Park in Maseru Mall, which was launched in 2015. A Technological Business Incubator was also established and hosted by the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology, while Nesta partnered with UNDP to establish a Growth Innovation Lab in Maseru.

Established in 1980, BEDCO is a parastatal of the Government of Lesotho, with a mandate to support entrepreneurial capacity building programmes and delivery of business advisory and support services and business and technical training. BEDCO provides incubation space for start-up businesses as well as virtual incubation services, and in November 2014 launched an ICT-led business enterprise project, which it is hoped will lead to greater local entrepreneurial activity.

Established in May 2008, STIC is hosted by the Lesotho College of Education and targets in-service and pre-service teachers, learners and school principals. The objective is to inculcate basic scientific and technological literary, visual and cultural literacy skills of student and promote adoption of new methods of teaching.

Established in 2015, the Vodacom Innovation Park is a technology-based business Incubator for young entrepreneurs in Lesotho focused on leveraging technology and mobile communications to make their businesses more competitive and productive.

The National University of Lesotho has established an innovation hub at its Roma campus. The innovation hub aims to support commercialisation of outputs from academic projects that have potential to strengthen diversification of e the country's economy. The innovation hub is in part funded by the Government of Lesotho while other sources of funds are from private sector (i.e. NUL innovation fund, www.nulif.org). The innovation hub has also made calls to the general public with innovative ideas to be incubated to help Basotho nationals with innovative ideas to be supported to develop working products and services.

Nesta is a UK based, global innovation foundation supporting entreneurship. Nesta partnered with UNDP to establish the Innovation Growth Lab in Maseru, Lesotho.