MyBIP

The My Business Innovation Planner app is a resource for informal business owners to grow innovation skills and opportunities. Use the guidelines, tools and tips to craft an innovation strategy based on understanding your business now and your vision for the future. The resources help you to assess progress, plan, and build skills.

MyBIP was created by a team of researchers at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in partnership with IT solutions company, CnetworksConsulting (Pty) Ltd. The HSRC is a social science research institution in South Africa. Since 2017, the HSRC team has carried out research to understand how informal business owners in South Africa use their skills and the knowledge available to them to create value for their customers. And how they use creative solutions to make do with the limited resources they have. The research is useful because informal businesses play an important role in providing affordable goods and services in their communities. MyBIP is one of several resources the HSRC has created so that informal business owners can benefit directly from the research findings. The interactive learning tools provide small business owners with proactive and opportunity-driven innovation strategies to strengthen their business capabilities. These learning tools as well as an Informal Business Innovation Toolkit are shared through the MyBIP app.