Edition May 2025

The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) plays an instrumental role in helping South Africa’s small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) fledge their wings by availing billions of rands in grants, loans and credit guarantees.

At the helm is Executive for Innovation Enabling at TIA Patrick Krappie, a seasoned public sector executive with a formidable background in economic policy and international negotiations. His deep understanding of the innovation landscape ensures that the country’s approximately 3 million SMMEs, which, according to FinScope Trust, employ an estimated 13.4-million workforce, have a fighting chance.

Krappie comes from a strong management background, having held senior positions in government institutions specialising in economic policy and negotiations. His Honours Degree in Economics prepared him for senior positions in government institutions, specialising in economic policy and negotiations. He boasts vast international experience, having worked in countries such as England and Switzerland.

In these roles, he served as a diplomat for eight years, representing South Africa as a negotiator in the World Trade Organization, World Intellectual Property Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. He also represented South Africa in the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development, where the country is an associate member.

Krappie was instrumental in the establishment of TIA in 2009 and has held various senior management and executive roles in the agency.

Achieving more with less Krappie’s leadership is underpinned by big-picture strategy, collaborative leadership, and team-building. His strengths lie in stakeholder management, partnership building and the execution of impactful strategies – all vital for an agency under pressure to deliver innovation amid tight budgets.

In 2023/24, TIA disbursed R75 million to new projects – some of which were conceived in backyard shacks.

“...we have got a seed funding instrument for SMMEs who are garage innovators, guys coming with great ideas, but some of them are university graduates,”

 he told Public Sector Manager.

The agency does not only fund entry-level innovation.

A significant portion of its resources support inventors working on more advanced, high-impact projects.

“With instruments in the Technology Development Fund, you can go up to about R15 to R20 million or even R30 million. We have funded a couple of projects but it is stretching our budget.”

Collaborative leadership

In April, Krappie’s collaborative leadership was aptly demonstrated, when TIA partnered with the British High Commission in South Africa and multinationals Unilever and EY.

This partnership led to four local innovators receiving R9-milllion worth of grant funding, business support and mentorship through the TRANSFORM initiative – a global impact accelerator backing entrepreneurs committed to reducing, collecting and processing plastic waste.

“We had a vested interest in this because we are also running a clean tech programme that is looking at issues around renewable energy technologies that help us to respond to climate change,” he said.

A similar project is TIA’s R34-million partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme. With UNIDO’s funding, TIA supports entrepreneurship focused on climate and environmental challenges.

The agency also works with the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation on the Commercialisation Support Fund. This, Krappie says, is “a market traction instrument” that funds the development of technology and the preparation of the technologies developed for commercialisation.

Beyond these, the agency has 18 transformation-targeted technical centres aimed at driving inclusion. These target women, youth and people living with disabilities.

“It does not matter who you are, you can walk into [these centres and] they [will] help you develop [your idea] from a sketch into a prototype. And then investors [will] begin to take interest in what you have.

[These] are very powerful interventions,” he added.

While these initiatives stretch the agency's financial muscle, Krappie finds solace in the impact they make.

“We work with a budget of R450 million on average, per annum, [and] R200 million of that is already committed to previous projects. So we have got about R200 million or so just available for new investment. You do not go too far with that,” he said.

Fruitful strategic partnerships

The agency is addressing the challenge through strategic partnerships.

“I think the partnerships are the ones that are really carrying us as well. And we know that budget is not going to get any easier,” he said.

Another pressure point is the increasing demand for TIA’s services. “We have accepted that we are a small organisation. We have to leverage on existing capabilities in the country and help get other people do some of the work that we are supposed to be doing,” he explained.

This includes allocating some of the resources to incubators, accelerators and other like-minded partners to help the entrepreneurs.

Krappie has a tenacious and unconquerable spirit. Despite all the challenges facing TIA, he is committed to continue forging creative ways and partnerships that will support and empower the country’s innovators, whose chance to fly higher hangs on TIA’s limited, yet very capable resources.

Despite the challenges, Krappie said he remains motivated by the lives TIA is transforming. He explained that witnessing the faces of young people whose lives have been changed – even in small ways – is one of the things that keep him going.