Dololo – Enabling Organisations to Connect Better with Younger Generations
Dololo is a privately owned company that specializes in developing an entrepreneurial culture in Namibia. The company is actively working with entrepreneurs, early stage start-ups and SMEs. Founded in September 2017, Dololo’s vision is to be the leading catalyst in Namibia’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Namibia is experiencing economic challenges that affect all sectors of society and despite there being a positive outlook, the recovery process remains slow. With an estimated youth unemployment rate of 46% for 2018, supporting entrepreneurship is vital for Namibia’s progress.
The team enables organisation and institutions to better connect with the next generation. In practice, this means that technical training and skills development is delivered in a fun and interactive way. The outcomes are improved engagement and attendance as well as a better ability to internalize and apply new knowledge.
“Entrepreneurs often feel isolated and don’t know what they don’t know. Developing safe spaces where communities of entrepreneurs can connect, learn and explore are vital to our entrepreneurship ecosystem” says Chantal Claassen Co-Founder and COO.
Dololo’s customers include companies and organisation that invest in entrepreneurship development and the youth. To date these include the GIZ Namibia, the National Commission for Research, Science and Technology (NCRST), RedBull Namibia and Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST).
In collaboration with its key partners Dololo has hosted several events such as the DoBox Pitch Competition, BOOSTUP Series of events by SAIS (Southern Africa Innovation Support and the NCRST) as well as the UNDP Accelerator Lab Launch. Dololo also participated in the National ICT Summit, the Annual Southern Africa Innovation Forum (ASAIF) in Botswana by SAIS2, and represented Namibia as a Hub manager at Slush 2019, the world’s leading startup and tech event in Helsinki, Finland.
Dololo also recently registered a not-for-profit entity – DoBox Trust. The DoBox Trust is run for the benefit of the entrepreneurship community and supports entrepreneurial activities including business incubation for early stage startups.
Through their bottom-up approach Dololo has been able to create meaningful impact by growing a community of entrepreneurs, problem solvers and future employers. The team recently won Best Startup Ecosystem Initiative, Best Accelerator or Incubator Startup and Best Coworking Space from the Southern Africa Startup Awards 2019.
