Scientific literacy that holds up
Astronomy is taught properly, not as trivia. The aim is people who can weigh evidence, question a claim and follow how a conclusion was actually reached.
Start with the sky. End with a business.
AstroBizNet takes young people in Namibia and Botswana from astronomy fundamentals, through data and digital skills, into entrepreneurship, ending in a live pitch competition with seed funding. Free. Online. Assumes nothing.
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Cohort 01 is running now
A project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development, run in Namibia and Botswana.
Why astronomy
The best on-ramp
into hard technical
skill there is.
Astronomy demands data handling, programming, statistical reasoning and a stubborn willingness to keep asking how anyone actually knows a thing. That is the same toolkit that builds companies, which is why this programme uses one to teach the other.
What it is for
Four things this
programme is trying to do.
Capability that transfers
The data handling, programming and statistical reasoning astronomy demands are the same skills employers and founders are short of. One subject teaches both.
Ventures, not certificates
Participants leave with an idea they have tested on real people, and the means to build it, rather than a document saying they attended.
Opportunity that stays local
Talent in Namibia and Botswana should not have to leave to find work worth doing. The programme exists to widen what is possible from where people already are.
The route to the final
How six people
reach the stage.
Astronomy first
A full block on the science itself, taught live, building the habits everything after it depends on.
Then the business
The second block turns those habits on markets, customers, costs and the shape of a workable idea.
Assessed throughout
Progress is measured continuously rather than judged at the end, and it is what decides who moves forward.
Mentored finalists
The strongest are matched with people who have built the real thing, ahead of the final.
A public final
It ends on a stage in November, judged live and streamed, with seed funding for the strongest ideas.
What you leave with
Evidence, not a certificate.
Technical skill
Python, data handling and statistical reasoning you can demonstrate rather than claim.
A tested idea
A venture you have put in front of real people and changed in response.
A professional profile
A profile and portfolio built to survive an actual hiring process.
A completion record
Verified progress and marks, exportable from the learning platform.
Supported by
IAU Office of Astronomy for Development
AstroBizNet is an OAD-funded project, run in Namibia and Botswana.
