Teen inventor quits scholarship, fearing idea theft

A Kavango West teenager who generated electricity from scrap batteries and water has quit the institute that gave him a three-year scholarship after a dispute over how to demonstrate and develop his invention.Kapumburu, a Grade 3 dropout from Gwagi village in Musese constituency, was offered the scholarship by the Ngato Institute of Science and Technology (Nist) in September to study solar equipment installation and maintenance after his innovation attracted attention for providing electricity to his family’s rural home.The teenager’s improvised system is used to charge mobile phones, power radios and provide lighting at the family’s home.In a statement issued last week, Nist said Kapumburu had left the institution on 7 October after consulting his parents and requesting to be released.“Our institution took him in order to support his innovation idea in producing electricity,” Nist said. It wished him “all the best in his path and future endeavours”.Kapumburu told Namibian Sun last week that he became concerned that demonstrating how he generated electricity could expose his invention to intellectual property theft.He said he was initially asked to bring his bucket to demonstrate how he generated electricity using water and scrap materials from batteries.“When I brought it back, they gave me a workshop and said they at least want to see how I am doing it,” he said.Kapumburu alleged that people warned that others could steal his ideas, claim them as their own and eventually render his presence at the institution unnecessary.Communication gapNist chief executive Fernando Ngato, however, said the institution had struggled to develop the project because Kapumburu was unwilling to explain how his invention worked.Ngato said Nist had intended to provide the teenager with technical training while conducting a pilot study to understand the invention, document the process and explore ways to improve it.He said the institute had purchased batteries and other equipment to help Kapumburu reproduce the system under improved conditions. The intention was to document the process and showcase the resulting product to the media and at trade fairs.“Every time, we were asking him, he was just hesitant to reveal information,” Ngato said, adding that the institution struggled to determine how to proceed without understanding the invention.Home againAccording to Ngato, the teenager eventually told the institution that people, including his parents, had advised him against reproducing the invention at the centre.Ngato said the institute was willing to help protect Kapumburu’s idea but needed to understand what he had developed before determining how it could be safeguarded or improved.“If you are saying to protect, it is fine, we can protect your idea together, but what really have you produced that we can protect?” he said.“If our understanding is different, then we will wash our hands,” he said, explaining that Nist ultimately accepted the request for Kapumburu to leave rather than continue with a process that had become contentious.Kapumburu has since returned to his village home.

Teen inventor quits scholarship, fearing idea theft

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-21

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Teen inventor quits scholarship, fearing idea theft

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Namibian Sun 2026-10-21

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