City of Joburg puts up R5m for community-changing startups

The City of Johannesburg has, for the second year running, put up R5-million worth of startup support as part of its backing for the #Hack.Jozi Challenge.

The challenge — which acts a boot camp for startup entrepreneurs and aims to contribute towards fostering skills, innovation and entrepreneurship in the digital technology space — comes out of partnership between the city and Wits University through the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE).

“We aim to accelerate visionary entrepreneurs in the ICT sector,” says Ravi Naidoo, Executive Director for Economic Development for the city. “This is important because ICT is central to improved productivity, economic growth and job creation. We are a young City with a young population and we have excellent business and research capacity which can create the perfect environment for us to develop advanced ICT products and services.”

Read more: The #Hack.Jozi Challenge will award R5-million to startups

The R5-million put up by the city includes R1-million for the winner, R350 000 for two runners up, and a boot camp for the top 100 ideas. The top 20 will be offered additional business mentorship and all who make the top 10 will win a one year membership of the ICT Hub in Braamfontein. The hub is an initiative hosted by Wits University under the leadership of Professor Barry Dwolatzky.

Issues that can be addressed include everything from access to healthcare to affordable education. Entries should address challenges in the following categories:

• General
• Public spaces/tourism
• Smart infrastructure
• Economic development

“If you have an idea about how you can use technology to help your community and grow the economy, we want to hear from you,” says Naidoo.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, 25 March 2016, which will be followed by a strict pre-screening to be conducted by a technical team. A committee will select the winners. Applicants can be individuals or teams, one of whom must live in the Johannesburg area. Government employees are not eligible.