On 22nd March 2023, Eunice Baguma Ball, Director at ATBN delivered a guest lecture at the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School. The lecture was delivered to the 2022/24 cohort of the Masters in Social innovation at the Cambridge Centre of Social Innovation. In her talk entitled “Catalytic Capital: The Missing Piece for Sustainable African Digital Innovation Ecosystems” Eunice shared findings from a 6-months research led by ATBN in 2021 as part of the establishment of the AfriConEU project. 

The study involved speaking with over 60 Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) leaders in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda in order to gain a deeper understanding of their challenges and identify opportunities for strengthening African Digital Innovation Ecosystems. In her lecture, Eunice discussed the critical role that African DIHs play in the development of Africa innovation ecosystems and how these DIHs could be better supported through the deployment of Catalytic Capital: investment that is focused not only on short term gains but on the longer term sustainability of Africa’s innovation ecosystems.