Looking to get into the South African startup scene or scratch up on some of your skills? Well, you’ve come to the right place. There are loads of competitions, networking sessions and workshops happening around South Africa and the rest of the continent (namely Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana) that we’ve rounded up to make your life a bit easier.
This article is part of a weekly series that highlights all the top startup competitions, networking sessions, workshops and conferences around South Africa, and the greater region. If you have any event recommendations for us to add to the list, or next week’s, please let us know in the comments below or send us an email.
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Not all of the events are free and some will require booking in advance. Please click on the event names to find out more information.
Cape Town
Venture Network Big Bus Tour Cape Town
Startup buses have cropped up all over the world. Many of them are designed to build and accelerate startups, but this one is more concerned with fostering relations between the Johannesburg and Cape Town startup communities.
Date: 14 March 2016 to 16 March 2016
Location: Cape Town and Stellenbosch
Product Meetup – Alen Ribic, Co-founder of SweepSouth
SweepSouth is one of the hottest startups on the South African scene right now. Alen Ribic, one of the company’s founders, will be speaking about product development and product management in a startup environment, as well as insights gained from participation in 500 Startups San Francisco.
Date: 14 March 2016, 6pm to 8pm
Location: Workshop 17
Panel Discussion with Jozi’s Venture Network
Looking at the South Africa ecosystem, the panel will unpack the nuances of the North versus the South and how the two can benefit from one another.
Date: 15 March 2016, 6pm to 10pm
Location: MIH MediaLab, Stellenbosch University
Barclays Rise will be hosting a FinTech themed Venture Network event on 16 March from 16:30. This event will showcase some of the best technology solutions in financial services. We’d like to invite start-ups, innovators and investors to an evening of pitches and networking. Free drinks and snacks will also be served.
Date: 16 March 2016, 4:30pm to 7:30pm
Location: Rise, 5th Floor, Woodstock Exchange, Block B
PwC 2015/16 Vision to Reality awards ceremony
The Vision to Reality awards celebrate innovation and leading-edge technologies, by identifying and recognising dynamic companies that demonstrate how they’ve successfully taken their unique technology solutions to the marketplace.
Date: 16 March 2016, 6:30pm to 10:30pm
Location: The Lookout, V&A Waterfront
A 48-hour hackathon aimed at building an app to help keep South Africans safe.
Date: 18 March 2016 at 6pm to 20 March 2016 at 6pm
Location: Workshop 17
Johannesburg
Lean In Circle: Women In Stem Meet-Up
Lean In Circle is a space to share knowledge & experiences and gain knowledge from powerful women in the STEM (and business) work space. This meetup is to encourage women to share their stories & empower each other, to connect, inform, inspire and mentor women & future leaders in the STEM workspace.
Date: 17 March 2016 from 6:30 pm
Location: Jozihub
GDG Johannesburg – Android UI Design Kickstarter
This is an introduction to Android app design for tech entrepreneurs that do not have any software development experience.
Date: 19 March 2016, 10:00am to 4:00pm
This month’s Startup Thursday is all about scaling up businesses for the South African fintech space.
Date: 17 March 2016, 6:00pm to 10:00pm
Location: AlphaCode, 1 Fredman Drive, 2 Merchant Place, 3rd Floor, Sandton
