Staff Reporter, Author at Ventureburn

SAB Foundation opens entries for Social Innovation, Disability Employment Awards
By Staff Reporter on 13 March, 2019
The SAB Foundation has opened applications for its ninth annual Social Innovation Awards, as well as the fourth annual Disability Empowerment Awards. In this year's awards the SAB Foundation will hand out a total of R12-million in prize money. Winners will receive prizes ranging between R200 000 and R1.3-million. In a statement last week, SAB Foundation social innovation specialist Ntando Nodada said the foundation -- through its Social Innovation Awards programme -- aims to develop products and services which help the country's most vulnerable communities, while supporting South Africa's "innovative thinkers and brightest entrepreneurial minds". Winners of this year's SAB Foundation Social...
Just under two days left to apply for Cities Alliance innovation grants
By Staff Reporter on 12 March, 2019
Innovators working on solutions that could improve tenure security, property and land rights in African cities have until Thursday to apply for up to $50 000 in grants from the Cities Alliance. The Cities Alliance is a Belgian based global partnership for urban poverty reduction and the promotion of the role of cities in sustainable development. The organisation, through The Secure Tenure in African Cities : Micro Funds for Community Innovation initiative aims to address the connection between the issue of land tenure, Africa's growing young population, and its capacity to innovate and deploy modern technologies. The call for proposals for the...
Everything you need to know about East African startup landscape [2019 Update]
By Staff Reporter on 8 March, 2019
Update: Are you a venture capitalist or an angel investor looking to invest in a company? Are you an entrepreneur looking for capital or other opportunities? Are you an aspiring startup owner looking for assistance? Well, you have come to the right place. Ventureburn presents an updated 2019 guide to East Africa's startup scene. This article is the most comprehensive guide for anyone who wants to get involved with, or have a better understanding of, the region's fast-growing startup space. We have scoured East Africa’s entrepreneurial landscape and hand-picked some of the top players to get you started, looking at all...
Google launches 18 new Womenwill chapters across Sub-Saharan Africa
By Staff Reporter on 8 March, 2019
In honour of International Women's Day, Google today announced the launch of 18 new Womenwill chapters across Sub-Saharan Africa. Womenwill is a Google initiative to create economic opportunity for women. Womenwill does this by helping women make the most of technology to build skills, get inspired and connect with each other through training, events and advocacy. The initiative also aims to drive conversations promoting gender equality to benefit everyone. Google South Africa communications and public affairs head Mich Atagana said in a statement today (8 March) that the gender gap could be solved if women have the same access to resources...
Future Females, UK-SA Tech Hub partner to train 50 SA women tech entrepreneurs
By Staff Reporter on 8 March, 2019
Women entrepreneurs in South Africa with a tech-enabled idea or business that has a positive social impact have one more thing to smile about this International Women's Day. Future Females, an international community of female entrepreneurs, has secured a partnership with the UK-SA Tech Hub to train 50 early-stage female tech entrepreneurs in the Future Females Business School programme. The UK-SA Tech Hub is a UK government initiative that aims to establish links between tech businesses in the UK and South Africa. The hub also aims to support local tech entrepreneurship, cultivate digital skills and promote opportunities in the sector for...
Visa launches women’s global edition of its Visa Everywhere Initiative
By Staff Reporter on 8 March, 2019
Digital payments giant Visa has launched a women's global edition of its Visa Everywhere Initiative. The global innovation programme tasks startups to solve payment challenges of tomorrow. In addition, the initiative helps participants enhance their product propositions and assists them in providing solutions for Visa's network of partners. The women's only iteration of the programme features a fintech and a social impact challenge. Visa will select 12 finalists from across both challenges -- two each from the six regions that it operates in -- to pitch their solutions in front Visa executives and clients in June in Paris. There's a total of...
GSMA reveals first speakers of 2019 Mobile 360 Series West Africa
By Staff Reporter on 7 March, 2019
The GSMA has announced the first speakers of the 2019 Mobile 360 Series West Africa conference which will take place on 16 and 17 April at the Radisson Blu Abidjan Airport Hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. April's event is part of a series of events the GSMA holds around the world aimed at examining the pressing issues that are shaping the mobile industry on both a local and global scale. In a statement on Tuesday (5 March), GSMA said the Mobile 360 West Africa conference will focus on the role of the digital citizen (internet users), and will question what...
Applications for Class 5 of eFounders Fellowship now open
By Staff Reporter on 7 March, 2019
Digital innovators based in Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda can now apply for Class 5 of the eFounders Fellowship. The fellowship is an initiative of the Alibaba Business School and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad). It was created in 2017 following an exploration of opportunities for African youth and businesses to participate in global trade and raise awareness of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Ma is also an Unctad Special Adviser for young entrepreneurs and small business. Applications for Class 5 of the eFounders Fellowship close on 17 March The programme...
Meet the five finalists of the 2019 MEST Africa Challenge who will pitch for $50k
By Staff Reporter on 6 March, 2019
MEST Africa has announced the names of the five startups that will pitch at the 2019 MEST Africa Challenge finals in June for a chance to win $50 000 in equity investment. The five startups, which hail from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, were selected after respective regional final events held in Accra, Lagos, Nairobi, Cape Town and Abidjan on 27 and 28 February. The finalists will now pitch for $50 000 in equity investment at the fourth MEST Africa Summit which takes place in Nairobi, Kenya between 10 and 12 June. The winner...
Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity names latest beneficiaries
By Staff Reporter on 6 March, 2019
The Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity (FRP) has announced the names of the five African firms that will each get a share of $4 438 551 to support the fund's financial inclusion agenda on the continent. The Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity is a $50-million challenge fund that aims to enable one million underprivileged people in rural Africa to gain access to appropriate savings, credit and insurance products and services. The fund was launched by the MasterCard Foundation in 2015. The fund seeks to do this by supporting the design and delivery of innovative and scalable financial products, services...