WANTED: MORE SUPPORT FOR LOCAL INNOVATORS

Many innovators exhibited some interesting products during Innovation Week, which climaxed on May 20. This shows that innovation is all around us.
Some innovations were thought-provoking because they have the potential to solve local problems. Needless to say, there are many local innovators with brilliant ideas, but who lack financial support to either upgrade their knowledge or brand their innovations.
Unfortunately, innovative skills and  the dreams of the majority of them end soon after displaying their ingenuity at various national events. Thereafter, they are oblivious.
However, there is hope that innovation will prosper and continuity will prevail after the French embassy dished out Sh1.4 billion to support innovation and entrepreneurship.
The two-year project dubbed “Innoversity” will definitely be a catalyst for more innovations in the country, especially at the university level.
Vocational colleges and ordinary citizens deserve credit for most of the innovations showcased in Tanzania. However, lack of financial support has been a major drawback.
The French support is welcome, but this should be a remainder for Tanzania to invest more in the local innovation area, which can directly solve challenges communities face.
Admittedly, the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology is doing a fairly good job, but innovation must be inclusive. The government has shown seriousness in setting up innovation hubs at a number of higher learning institutions.
However, ordinary citizens with various innovations still face the same old problems of bureaucracy and lack of financial support. These challenges must be end now.
It is important to have, say, an innovation fund, which may promote innovation by harnessing the country’s untapped technological skills base. Hopefully, the fund will encourage Tanzanians to develop cheap, simple and locally relevant technologies that can raise living standards across the country.
Nearly 80 percent of Tanzanians are peasants, and the majority of them live in poverty. They need simple and local technologies to lift them out of poverty.

SHUN THIS PRIMITIVE CONDUCT

We are nearly a quarter of a century into the 21st century, and it is unacceptable to be still held hostage by the warped thinking that “real” men must unleash violence on their partners on a regular basis. Sadly, it is not only men with bloated egos who hold this belief but also women, who happen to be the victims.

Hundreds of thousands of women are trapped in abusive relationships in which they are a little more than punching bags for their partners, who won’t pick on someone their own size. Why? Because women are told to endure and tolerate whatever hardships they encounter in their marriages, including regular beatings.

Incidents where women are maimed or even killed by their violent partners are being reported with unsettling frequency. Women should be encouraged to report physical abuse instead viewing it as normal.

Men also need to be told in no uncertain terms that it is patently primitive to “discipline” women by hitting them. Violence against women does not solve anything, and only serves to make matters worse.