South Africa’s startup scene is hotter than ever, and entrepreneurs are the new rockstars of the business world. From government to big business, organisations are realising the benefits of harnessing startup business talent.
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Ventureburn — in partnership with First National Bank (FNB), investment advisory firm Clifftop Colony, and data gathering and analytics company Qurio — on Tuesday launched the Ventureburn Startup Survey 2015, which is looking to uncover the nuts and bolts of the startup sector.
The survey will answer questions like: What are the major challenges facing the country’s entrepreneurs? What do South Africa’s startup founders look like? What sectors are startups more prevalent in? What types of funding are startups securing, and where are they getting their money from? Why do people choose startup life over comfortable corporate life? Why are people flocking to startups to work there? Where is the most startup activity happening in South Africa?
“We will explore, in-depth, real data on the startup community, and interpret and publicise the survey data in the form of a series of articles on Ventureburn and the wider media. With the data that we release to the country, we will create a case study, publish an infographic and present the insights at various associated conferences,” says Jacques Coetzee, who heads up Ventureburn.
It’s not just about startups. Big businesses have also stepped into the spotlight. First National Bank recently invested over R3-million in the Silicon Cape initiative. This collaboration will further help foster technology in the Cape Town region. Clifftop Colony meanwhile has raised close to R750-million in equity and equity equivalents for South African high growth technology companies since the firm was founded in 2012. MTN and the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business recently announced a R15-million deal to help foster innovation.
On the government front and in the spirit of the National Development Plan 2030, the City of Johannesburg is dedicating millions of Rands to support entrepreneurs through the Green City Startup Challenge. In the Western Cape, the government recently announced that it has dedicated over R45-million this year to support entrepreneurship and business development.
Who qualifies? Am I startup? If you are a technology-based startup, small business, SMME with annual revenues of between R0 and R30-million and/or staff numbers of anywhere from 1 to 50, we want you to participate in the survey.
What can I win? By completing the survey, you are guaranteed to win a Startup Goodie Bag to the value R4300. In addition to that, you stand the chance to win prizes to the value of R170 000*, including an iPad mini 16gb with wifi & cellular worth R7 799, courtesy of Digicape.
Alright, I am keen already! Tell me who, what, where, when, and how: To participate in the survey simply visit the Startup Survey page and follow the instructions.
*Prize breakdown:
Main Prize
The overall winner will walk away with:
- iPad mini 16gb with wifi & cellular worth R7 799
- A Burn Media PR and jobs package worth R80 000
- A financial assessment from Core Wealth Managers worth R5 000
Secondary Prizes
Two lucky participants will receive:
- A Burn Media Company Office Package worth R25 000
- A financial assessment from Core Wealth Managers worth R5 000
Tertiary Prize
Core Wealth Managers will give away financial assessments to the value of R5 000 each to 17 lucky winners. The assessment includes:
- A detailed risk analysis pertaining to death, disability and income protection needs
- Structural recommendations with regards to Estate planning and the setting up of a Last Will and Testament
- A full retirement planning analysis with recommendations and calculations included
- General investment assessment
- Recommendations with regards to tax efficiency (individual)
- Depending on the case, various other short-term needs within our scope of advice will also be addressed, such as debt management and emergency saving
Startup Goodie Bag
Every startup that completes the survey gets a guaranteed startup goodie bag, comprising:
- Three month subscription to Qurio worth R2 250
- 1 000 SMSes from Cellfind
- One month’s access to LaunchLab‘s hot desking space worth R850
- R1 000 worth of Flex Cloud credit from RSAWeb.
