Manfred Scriba holds a Ph.D in Experimental Physics from the University of Cape Town on the Synthesis and characterization of doped silicon nanoparticles. He is the manager of the DST-CSIR Nanomaterial Industrial Development Program at the DST-CSIR Nanotechnology Innovation Centre and leads a team of researchers and engineers that develop nanomaterials and nanocomposites and also support the industry to develop and scale up processes in nanomaterials. He has managed diverse teams in his career including: electronics and optics development, image processing, special camera development and materials development. He has himself and through these groups, developed and commercialised a number of products and filed more than 8 patents. In addition, he has authored and co-authored more than 14 papers. For 2 years he assisted with the business development of the Lasers group of CSIR, which was a good learning for the rest of his career. In addition, as co-founder and chair of the SA Nanotechnology Initiative he was responsible for the development of the nanotechnology strategy of SA and its implementation. Recently the DST appointed him as national champion for the proposal and establishments of a Nano-Micro Manufacturing Facility which forms part of their SA Infrastructure Roadmap. At CSIR he is presently setting up facilities to support this DST programme and at the same time assists many groups with business plan development and strategy.