Staff Reporter, Author at Ventureburn

SBC AfriTech honoured at Global Startup Awards [Sponsored]
By Staff Reporter on 30 November, 2018
Startupbootcamp AfriTech (SBC AfriTech) has been named the Best Accelerator in the Africa region by the first annual Southern Africa Startup Awards, in partnership with the Global Startup Awards. SBC AfriTech was awarded the accolade last Thursday (22 November), following a rigorous process of nominations, public voting and adjudication. The award was received by SBC AfriTech programme manager Nsovo Nkatingi, the only woman to lead an accelerator of this scope on the continent. Startupbootcamp (SBC) AfriTech won the Best Accelerator or Incubation Programme award at the inaugural Southern Africa Startup Awards "Startupbootcamp AfriTech is truly honoured to have received this award and we are even more privileged...
Google Impact Challenge Kenya, Nigeria, SA winners announced
By Staff Reporter on 29 November, 2018
Thirty-six African non-profits and social enterprises have each been awarded a share of $6-million in grants from Google. This, after the tech giant announced the Kenya, Nigeria and SA winners of the Google Impact Challenge last night (28 November). The announcement was made at events held in Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg. Through the challenge, Google aims to find the most innovative African non-profits and social enterprises using technology to solve societal problems. The challenge's top four winners across the three countries have won $250 000 each, while the eight runners up in each country take away $125 ooo. In a statement yesterday (28 November), Google said...
Meet the 25 startups that each got R50k grants from 22 On Sloane, Fortress REIT
By Staff Reporter on 28 November, 2018
Joburg based property development investment company Fortress REIT has partnered with startup campus 22 ON SLOANE to award 25 companies each with R50 000 seed grants. The grant recipients include a startup that uses artificial intelligence (AI) in the car industry, an enterprise in the aviation sector as well as fintech, edtech and healthtech startups. Of the grant recipients, 15 operate outside the tech startup sector (being a publication that is focused on tech startups, we've listed only the tech-related firms that were awarded grants -- the names of the 15 non-tech firms are at the footer of the story). The 25 grant recipients are...
Jozi team wins Acsa, Tshimologong access management system challenge
By Staff Reporter on 27 November, 2018
A Johannesburg-based team of developers comprising of Aaron Rseke, Gift Mogeni and Mosima Matlhwana has been selected as the winners of Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) and Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct's access management system challenge. The team, which goes by the name Authentic8, was selected for its single sign-on solution which it built on a collaborative development platform. In a statement today (27 November), Tshimologong said the team of three developers received R150 000 and a seven-month long incubation period at the digital innovation precinct where they will continue developing their winning solution. The winning team will receive a R150 000 and seven-month long incubation...
Tanzanian agri-business company Makaru Agro wins Seedstars Tanga
By Staff Reporter on 27 November, 2018
Tanzanian agri-business company Makaru Agro has been selected as the winner of the Seedstars Tanga pitch event. The event took place last Friday (23 November) in the northern coastal town of Tanga in Tanzania. Makaru Agro specialises in agro product distribution as well as the cultivation of bird eye chili. In addition, the company states on its website that it also provides agricultural consultancy services. By winning Seedstars Tanga, the startup has secured an opportunity to pitch at Seedstars Dar es Salaam, where the company will compete against other participants to get the chance to be named the Seedstars Tanzania winner. Social enterprise Womenchoice was placed second for its...
Here are the regional winners of the inaugural Southern Africa Startup Awards
By Staff Reporter on 27 November, 2018
The 15 regional winners of the inaugural Southern African Startup Awards have been announced, with SA companies having taken home just short of half of the awards. The 15, who hail from 14 countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) economic bloc, were announced last Thursday (23 November) at the awards grand finale held at an event in Johannesburg. In a statement on Medium yesterday, Southern Africa Startup Awards COO Flo Mosoane said the winners had been selected following a "rigorous process" of nominations, public voting and adjudication. SA companies walked away with seven awards at the inaugural Southern African Startup Awards Winners of six...

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Uprise.Africa appoints former GEPF man to chair crowdfunding platform board
By Staff Reporter on 26 November, 2018
Cape Town based equity crowdfunding platform Uprise.Africa today (26 November) announced the appointment of Prabir Badal, a former board member of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), as its new chairman. In a statement today (26 November) Uprise.Africa CEO Tabassum Qadir said the company is "exceedingly pleased" to have Badal (pictured above) join as chairman. Qadir said Badal will be an important mentor to her as well as a strategist to Uprise.Africa. She added that the new chairman will bring "his rich financial insight", entrepreneurial spirit and "far-reaching knowledge" of the investment industry to the table. Uprise.Africa also announced that its COO and co-founder Patrick Schofield...
Here’s all you need to know about the WHO Africa Innovation Challenge
By Staff Reporter on 26 November, 2018
Are you working on new solution that could help address some of Africa's unmet health needs? Then you're just the sort of innovator that the World Health Organisation (WHO) is looking for. WHO is calling on innovators with scalable healthcare solutions to submit applications for the WHO Africa Innovation Challenge. Entries for the initiative close on 10 December. The WHO Africa Innovation Challenge will prioritise solutions across three categories, namely: product innovation, service innovation and social innovation. Applications for the WHO Africa Innovation Challenge close on 10 December The challenge is open to African nationals as well as foreign nationals that are either based...
Digital technology will forever change public-private partnerships [Sponsored]
By Staff Reporter on 26 November, 2018
The term technology is a wide and far reaching one -- it refers to a plethora of things. These can include manufacturing, processes, and building technologies. This article focuses on digital technology -- which will today and for the foreseeable future fundamentally change the way we operate businesses as well as how we develop, adopt and consume products and services. The piece focuses in particular, its role in public–private partnerships (PPPs). PPPs are by nature large-scale projects that draw on a multitude of resources, including funding, skills and expertise, as well as innovation capability and capacity. The projects deliver public services to business and...
Top startup events in South Africa, Africa you should know about this week [26/11/2018]
By Staff Reporter on 25 November, 2018
This week join Cape Town based 88 Business Collective on Tuesday (27 November) as the initiative celebrates the entrepreneurs that came out tops in its 18-month accelerator programme. In Joburg, network with local startups at the Startup Guide Johannesburg Community Kickoff on Thursday (29 November). For those in Kenya, leading experts will discuss how startups can tap into alternative sources of funding at an African Investor Meetup in Nairobi that takes place tomorrow (26 November). In Nigeria, TechCabal will on Friday (30 November) host a fintech forum that will explore the next generation of fintech that will come out of the country. This article is...