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Martin is obsessed with technology and the future. His work life includes positions at UK based Hotcourses.com, Discovery Invest and currently, Memeburn.
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We've long lamented over how secretive Africa's startup communities are, especially South Africa and its crown jewel, Cape Town, which is supposed to be a beacon for the continent's entrepreneurial community. As an emerging market with defiant ambition we love to draw parallels between promising African innovation hubs and Silicon Valley, and yes there is promise, but we are sorely lacking openness, a cornerstone trait of successful entrepreneurial ecosystems.
A lack of openness is perhaps as much a symptom of a ...
An article published by The Economist earlier this year, quoted research by the pressure group, Partnership for a New American Economy, which found that some 40% of Fortune 500 firms were founded by immigrants or their children. An earlier report in 2011 entitled Immigrant Founders and Key Personnel in America’s 50 Top Venture-Funded Companies concluded that more than half of America's top 50 private venture-funded companies -- as ranked by Down Jones VentureSource -- were founded by immigrants.
America's immigration policies ...
People are spoiled for choice when it comes to email marketing services. For example, internationally there is MailChimp, iContact, Benchmark and Campaign Monitor, while Everlytic, and Graphic Mail have made their marks on the South African market. Dashing into the fray comes Total Send, an email marketing service from Cape Town. It's pièce de résistance? Aggressive pricing.
Total Send's founder Luke Wingfield Digby believes that the pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and search engine optimisation (SEO) scenes have become too crowded and expensive. ...
Is there a shortage of VC and angel funding in Africa? Pose the question to entrepreneurs and the answer is bound to be yes. Omidyar's latest report on African entrepreneurship found that 71% of respondents surveyed in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania believe that there is a shortage of equity capital to start new firms. African financiers disagree, simply saying that many projects are not fundable.
Whatever the case may be, the International Finance Corporation estimates that ...
The Western Cape region, which includes Stellenbosch and Cape Town is colloquially referred to as "Silicon Cape", a nod to the legendary Silicon Valley in the United States.
The Western Cape is generally acknowledged as having South Africa's strongest entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Digital gateway to Africa report recently jointly published by Wesgro, City of Cape Town and PwC, shines a light on exactly why the region has become so attractive to both intrepid capital seekers and providers.
We've gone through the lengthy ...
E-tailer Konga.com, is launching its SMS-based platform called SMS2ORDER, that will allow its customers to initiate item purchases via SMS.
Shoppers can send text messages containing product codes of items they wish to purchase to a number operated by Konga.com. A customer service consultant will then call the customer; setup an account if the customer is new, process the order for the customer and schedule delivery. Payment on delivery is available to customers in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
SMS messages are sent ...
Right around the time Omidyar Network released its Accelerating Entrepreneurship in Africa report, we had an opportunity to talk to Malik Fal, managing director of Omidyar Network Africa.
Fal has a finger on the pulse of entrepreneurship in Africa. He leads Omidyar Network’s investment strategy and operations on the continent, and for the last 15 years has been involved with social entrepreneurship, business, and development, primarily in the African context.
In this monster one hour interview Fal tells us why he is ...
Seed Engine, the early stage venture accelerator, recently announced the first six startups that will receive R100 000 startup capital as part of its acceleration programme. The funding goes toward helping the startups convert their ideas into practical business plans. In May, the startups hope to raise between R200 000 and R2-million in additional funding at a showcase event with investor attendance.
So, what has the inaugural Seed Engine experience been like? We've been given four videos of Seed Engine finalists ...
Electricity shortages is the single biggest challenge African entrepreneurs face. That's according to the Omidyar Network's sublimely comprehensive Accelerating Entrepreneurship in Africa report.
What Africa has no shortage of however, is creative thinkers, and that's why the 13th annual Africa Utility Week is organising a 48-hour utility hackathon to uncover innovative solutions for Africa's power, water and sanitation problems. The hackathon is being held at the Cape Town International Convention Center (CTICC), and runs from Tuesday 14 May to Wednesday 15 ...
When we first wrote about mobi.lity, the traveller information startup from Cape Town, it had already won a pitch to Western Cape transport agency, Metrorail for its prototype mobile transit app.
A short while later, Metrorail officially adopted the service and rebranded it as GoMetro. Since then, GoMetro has seen impressive adoption, and it has become an indispensable utility for over 600 000 railway commuters in South Africa.
Through a partnership with iROKO Partners, the world’s largest online distributor of African ...
