case in point
DBSA:
Pulse of innovation in Southern Africa
Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) is one of the eight key strategic thrusts of the
Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). The Bank identified a real need to develop a
widely accepted strategic approach towards innovation to address development challenges.
Jayshree Naidoo, Manager: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
“D
uring the 2008/9 financial year, the Bank
established an Innovation and Entrepre-
neurship function to foster a culture of Inno-
vation and Entrepreneurship in the Bank and to introduce
a different approach to build capacity,” says DBSA’s I&E
Manager, Jayshree Naidoo.
01 ceo vol 9 no 3 2010
Naidoo recently completed a research study that was
aimed at identifying the key drivers for innovation and
entrepreneurship within the DBSA as part of her MBA
studies. The research study found that the key drivers
are Management Support, Performance Management
with specific focus on Reward, Innovation Capacity and
Time Availability.
The I&E function of the DBSA does, however, not stop
with the above-mentioned functions. It has also been
tasked to identify I&E champions and equip them with
the relevant tools, techniques and skills, to host regular
idea generation sessions that will bring in new ideas of-
fering better services or products to the Bank, to provide
advisory services on I&E for Public Service Organisa-
tions, to ensure a system of open innovation within the
DBSA that allows all staff to participate and share best
practices, to ensure reward and recognition mechanisms
are in place for staff and champions for innovative efforts,
to engage stakeholders, both within the DBSA and exter-
nally, in finding innovative solutions for organisational
and socio-economic challenges, to provide a centre of
expertise that promotes collaboration and best practice
that ensures replication and to identify corporate entre-
preneurship in practise and promote replication.
Naidoo, who initially joined the Bank as Manager:
Group Strategy, has launched the I&E function of the
DBSA. “The country’s innovation environment is largely
influenced by mandate, strategic regulations and plans,
strategic leadership, management policies and prac-
tices. There is recognition that forces of innovation are
largely driven by its employees, client demands, other
development finance suppliers and new market en-
trants,” she says.
According to Naidoo, the I&E function will have a direct
impact on the Innovation and Corporate Entrepreneurship
thrust, as well as an indirect impact on the following:
 case in point

Strategic Focus and Alignment

Alignment to Corporate Strategy (one of the eight strategic thrusts), delivering on Develop-
ment Agenda, addressing binding constraints and priority sectors and embedding a culture of
Innovation and Entrepreneurship within the DBSA.

Idea Generation
Building internal capacity by equipping I&E champions and staff with idea generation skills
and knowledge through Innovation Circles. To host regular Idea Generation Sessions with cham-
pions and staff that address development challenges.

Innovation
Hosting of dialogues, think tanks and workshops that are aimed at identifying possible innova-
tions, both internally and externally, and the creation of project piloting opportunities.

Knowledge Management
Synthesise key outcomes of workshops and discussions and distill lessons from innovation
projects identified for dissemination internally and externally through the knowledge facilitation
function.

Entrepreneurship Development
Ensuring project sustainability through the application of entrepreneurial principles within
the DBSA and ensure alignment in monitoring and evaluation principles and practices.

Strategic Partnerships
Building partnerships with external innovation and entrepreneurial organisations to create
platforms for collaboration.

Enterprise Development and Support

Optimising the use of the Enterprise development Pillar, which is part of the BBBEE frame-
work, to support initiatives and the inclusion of projects that are internally focused or those that
could impact externally (Municipalities, State-owned enterprises).

Project Origination
Innovative project origination that addresses key development challenges at a grass root level.
Incubation of new ideas in order to grow them into them in sustainable projects within DBSA.

According to Naidoo one way in which the DBSA is
contributing towards achieving this was through their
‘champions model’. “Champions are DBSA staff mem-
bers from various business units, who participate in I&E
activities and have allocated a percentage of their work-
ing day to this deliverable on their performance plans.
Champions receive formal training on various innovation
tools and techniques and have a common understanding
of the role of innovation,” she explains.
She elaborates that these champions play an advo-
cacy role by driving an I&E culture in their respective
divisions in the various business areas of the Bank. The
champions have been identified and trained on practi-
cal tools and techniques that will assist them in facilitat-
ing discussions by identifying projects and initiatives
that aid in innovation and corporate entrepreneurship
delivery. “In addition to the formal training received the
champions also have the opportunity of engaging with
key stakeholders and industry leaders at internal and ex-
ternal events,” Naidoo adds.
The DBSA has created the Inno-Pulse room – a vi-
brant space to spark innovative thinking. “The decor of
the room is themed according to the different tools that
will be used within the DBSA to enhance creativity and
idea generation. The colours are that of Six Thinking Hats
– an Edward De Bono Tool that has been adopted for use
within the DBSA for Innovation facilitation. The room is a
space available to all staff that aim to stimulate idea gen-
eration, solve problems and plan for projects in a crea-
tive environment. This space will give champions the op-
portunity to interact with their units and divisions in a fun,
yet productive manner,” Naidoo explains.
The Inno-Pulse room is modelled on similar spaces in
other organisations that have proven to add value to the In-
novation Process by employing entrepreneurial thinking
and negotiating with the various divisions and stakeholders.
 case in point
“We have also decided to leverage off existing IT in-
frastructure and not invest in costly software for the pur-
poses of collecting and evaluating ideas from staff. The
Innovation team engaged with internal developers to
use the SharePoint platform to create a form system were
ideas could be submitted by staff using the Six Thinking
Hats methodology and evaluated using Lateral Thinking
harvesting criteria, all champions have been trained on
both these De Bono tools,” she adds.
On an external basis, a two-day Conference on Innova-
tion and Entrepreneurship was hosted during the Global
Entrepreneurship Week in November 2009. A total of 100
guests attended the conference, which entailed 23 presen-
tations from senior Innovation and Entrepreneurship lead-
ers that represented private, public and the academic sec-
tors. The opening address was delivered by the Deputy
Minister of Science and Technology, Mr. Derek Hanekom.
The week also included a day conference for Youth, aged
15 to 18, a University conference and a DBSA staff day.
The University conference was co-hosted by Students
in Free Enterprise SA (SIFE). The aim of this conference
was to introduce and inform the university students
about SIFE as well as educate them on varied entrepre-
neurship and innovation skills and techniques. Some of
these universities included: The University of Cape Town,
The University of Johannesburg, The University of Preto-
ria, Durban University of Technology, Walter Sisulu Uni-
versity and The Design School of South Africa, to name a
few. Business Education Design (Pty) Ltd addressed the
01 ceo vol 9 no 3 2010
students and initiated the entrepreneurship skills work-
shop for the day. The workshop was based on a skills pro-
gramme developed by Business Education Design (Pty)
Ltd titled ‘Give yourself a Job’.
The youth conference was sponsored by City of Johan-
nesburg & co-hosted by Junior Achievement South Africa
(JASA). “The purpose of JASA is to prepare young people
for life after school by raising their awareness of economic
issues, teaching them entrepreneurial and life skills, pro-
viding them with an understanding of the business world
and enhancing their sense of personal responsibility
through practical business experience,” Naidoo explains.
“Operational in all South African provinces, JASA not only
aims to develop entrepreneurial and business skills in
young people but also to provide the life skills required
to become active citizens, through a range of programme
interventions. Students are encouraged to exercise their
rights as well as their responsibilities in a balanced way.
The students played a Financial Literacy Board Game in
teams, the board game was named: ’More than Money’
and was designed to teach young people how to manage
their money. The second phase of the programme was a
talk titled ‘My Money Business’ that taught the students
how to save and spend their money.”
The staff day was aimed at creating an awareness of
the Innovation and Entrepreneurship week by running
idea jam sessions with staff. The sessions used Lateral
Thinking Tools to get staff to solve for operationally fo-
cused problems by coming up with innovation ideas.

During the past year, the Innovation team has en-
gaged with many external stakeholders involved in In-
novation and Entrepreneurship. The intention of these
engagements was to assist with capacity creation and
replicate the DBSA model were possible. “The Bank has
hosted several public sector organisations providing in-
sight into the practical application of the methodology
used to create a focus on Innovation and Entrepreneur-
ship. The DBSA case study has also been presented at
several conferences and linkages are made on an ongo-
ing basis to effectively provide a platform for collabora-
tion,” Naidoo elaborates.
DBSA is one of the founding members of the South
African Innovation Network (SAIN) – which was founded
in July 2009 - and provides a platform for learning, shar-
ing and talking innovation. “SAIN aims to activate the
triple helix principle in South Africa where government,
academia and industry come together and collaborate
to find new solutions and create real value. This network
aims to become the ultimate innovation standard-setting
platform in South Africa. The main aim of the activities
associated with the innovation network is to remedy the
current lack of reliable data on innovation related topics
as well as contribute to information on progress made in
South Africa on innovation,” says Naidoo.
Naidoo herself was nominated to participate on the
Innovation Systems Leadership Programme piloted by
the Cooperation Framework on Innovation Systems be-
tween Finland and South Africa (COFISA). “At the event
case in point
we came up with ideas roles and commitments on how to
take main learning points, like collaboration and build-
ing innovation, networks further,” she adds.
“Government’s focus on innovation is aimed at estab-
lishing a vision and framework for supporting and en-
couraging a drive towards becoming a more innovative
country. Innovation carries the potential for introducing
ideas for new products, services and solutions to address
some of the challenges faced and we at the DBSA are do-
ing our part in facilitating such innovative thinking.”
“According to the National Advisory Council on In-
novation (NACI), science, technology and innovation can
contribute significantly to economic growth and to the
improvement of the quality of life of people. NACI further
argues that South Africa has to manage a dual innovation
system. On the one hand, it has to promote innovation for
international competitiveness (like highly industrialised
countries) and on the other hand, it also has to utilise in-
novation for combating national development challenges
such as poverty, educational deprivation and unemploy-
ment among large sections of the population. “Both these
aspects tie in closely with the DBSA’s strategy towards a
prosperous and integrated region progressively free of
poverty and dependency,” Naidoo says.
In 2010 the DBSA is planning to focus specifically on
building close ties with the public sector in order to in-
crease capacity for innovation. “We will also be looking
at more sustainable solutions to deliver innovation to mu-
nicipalities in South Africa,” she concludes.