Cape Town gets Africa’s first taste of Startup Weekend Education action

Africa’s first ever Startup Weekend Education event took place this past weekend in Cape Town. There were five teams involved, with other high profile speakers from companies also in attendance, including Dapt.io‘s Roger Norton and Breadbin Interactive‘s Brett Simpson.

The idea of the Startup Weekend Education revolves around a simple schedule. During the 54-hour event, developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts group and discuss ideas, build teams and products, and launch startups. The startups in question were a gaggle of elearning ventures, all hoping to be the next big thing.

The weekend began with a pitching session and team forming. The following day and a half revolved around validating concepts and finally, culminating in the ultimate pitch the Sunday evening.

Representatives from GetSmarter, Microsoft, CodeX and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation were also in attendance.

Five teams endured the challenge, among them was GoVarsity, a mobile app that “creates a bridge between high schools and universities by offering curated information to high school learners, equipping them to become graduates.” Other teams included QMod — an educational energy tool, Stellar — a parental monitoring app for their children’s academics, Creer — a student-to-professional job matching platform and lastly, EduFication — a career guidance and mentoring platform.

Lianne du Toit of the Silicon Cape Initiative, one of the event’s supporters, commented on the effect of the weekend on both the participants hopes, and their outlook of the business world:

This weekend did much the same for the participants but I also felt something much larger than pitching, business and idea progression. […]

These individuals want to be community builders and changemakers. I believe the whole crowd left both inspired and humbled by the participants’ ambition to empower their communities.

Edson of EduFication also lauded the event, noting that the “experience has made a huge impact on our lives.”

“We truly thank you for giving us the space to discover our potential”, he added.

Images: Silicon Cape Initiative