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Seed Academy announces second annual startup survey
Seed Academy, the Johannesburg-headquartered training, incubation and funding programme, has announced the launch of its second annual startup survey.
According to press release sent to Ventureburn, this year’s survey aims to build on the 2015 edition to become the largest such undertaking in South African history.
“This year, we want to build on the benchmarks established last year by determining the success rates of entrepreneurs in different environments such as urban, township and rural environments,” says Donna Rachelson, CEO of Seed Academy. “We will also establish the sectors in which entrepreneurs operate, as well the markets in which they are building their businesses – business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C) or business to government (B2G). Finally, we will consider the success rates of local compared to foreign entrepreneurs participating in the SA ecosystem”.
The survey, which is aimed at companies younger than five-years-old, comes with the chance for participants to win one of three business support packages valued at R30 000 each, one of two seats on an accelerator programme valued at R15 000 each and one of five places on an entrepreneur bootcamp valued at R5000 each.
Read more: Survey highlights key areas where SA entrepreneurs struggle
The 2015 survey showed that some of the biggest problems faced by South African startups include finding their customers, raising startup funds, and a lack of guidance. Most entrepreneurs also wear too many hats within their own startup, which may spread them too thin within their organisations. These problems accumulate to give entrepreneurs a difficult time when starting companies.
According to Rachelson, South African entrepreneurs need more support from all sectors if they’re to thrive.
“The National Development Plan (NDP) places a huge expectation on small business given that the plan expects small and expanding companies to deliver 90% of jobs by 2030,” the Seed Academy CEO says. “The results of the survey will provide valuable data for Government to enhance the startup ecosystem in South Africa by outlining exactly what the status quo is and where the most urgent interventions are required.”
