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 & Stellenbosch
Knowledge Acceleration Programme
The Knowledge Acceleration Programme is a fourteen-week action-learning entrepreneurship development programme, designed to develop the practicing and aspiring entrepreneur’s business planning and management skills, and in doing so, develop the foundation for building a successful business. This programme is limited to 20 participants, and the best participant will be in line to win R15 000 in seed funding.
To receive more information or register to attend this course, complete the form online.
Date: 21 June, 6pm to 6 October, 9pm
Location: The LaunchLab
For people working in startups, lean (startup) coffee is a weekly 1-hour coffee that runs a mash-up of leancoffee.org with theleanstartup.com.
Date: 22 June, 8:30am to 9:30am
Location: TRUTH. coffeecult
connect Hout Bay innovators and startups..
Using the lean coffee methodology this meet up aims to connect people living in Hout Bay with other like minded individuals who are passionate about innovation, and startups.
Date: 23 June
Location: PURE resturant at Hout Bay Manor
Hiring Developers, Startup Equity & the OfferZen Story
Malan and Philip Joubert have co-founded a number of successful startups together, including FireID, Pondering Panda, Journey Apps and more recently, Offerzen, the recruitment platform for software developers.
The latest in the Stellenbosch Digital Series, this event takes the form of a fireside chat and includes beer, wine and pizza.
Date: 23 June, 6pm to 9pm
Location: The LaunchLab
According to Wikipedia, Design thinking is a formal method for practical, creative resolution of problems and creation of solutions, with the intent of an improved future result. This two-day course aims to give participants a common level of understanding of the Design Thinking principles, key tools & terminology. The focus of this course will be on this hands-on part, ‘Learning-by-Doing’. The tools we will practice during these two days are: Stakeholder Mapping, Value Network Mapping, Personas, Customer Journey Mapping (Customer Insights), Service Scenario Mapping and Prototyping.
Date: 24 to 25 June
Location: Workshop 17
Johannesburg
StartupGrind: Lynette Ntuli (InnateSA & IgniteRSA)
The June edition of StartupGrind Johannesburg will take the form of a fireside chat with Lynette Ntuli. A 2014 Mandela Washington Fellow, Ntuli is the Chief Executive Officer of Innate Investment Solutions, a South African entity that provides property, asset management and infrastructure solutions to the built environment and custodians of land and property portfolios.
Date: 21 June, 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Location: Standard Bank Incubator
FinTech Africa Financial Inclusion Event
This event, organised by WeChat South Africa will see 200 insiders, experts, startups and investors discuss technology’s role in the developments and challenges for financial inclusion in Africa.
Date: 23 June, 3:30pm to 7:00pm
Location: Deloitte Place
Nairobi
B&W Debate: “Is there a difference between male and female entrepreneurs?”
Black & White are lively debates held every month with the aim to show that there is not a single truth on how to start or grow a successful business. This month’s topic: “Is there a diffference between male and female entrepreneurs managing their business.
Date: 21 June, 2:00pm to 3:30pm
Location: The Hub East Africa
Youth+ Nairobi Entrepreneurship Conference
Youth+ Nairobi 2016 is a 3-day conference, in partnership with Nairobi City County, bringing together 1,000 young leaders and entrepreneurs from across Nairobi City County.
Date: 22 June, 7:00pm to 24 June, 5:00pm
Location: Trinity Centre – All Saint’s Cathedral
Hubcubation is a five-month programme designed for entrepreneurs who want to take their startup to the next level of professionalism and sustainability. The program has a 360′ approach build on three pillars: knowledge, network and mentor/coaching.
This event acts as an opportunity for people to try out the programme and see what it can do for them.
Date: 23 June, 8:30am to 1:00pm
Location: The Hub East Africa
iHub’s monthly entrepreneurs forums are hosted by Prof. Bitange Ndemo. Prof. Ndemo is a former Permanent Secretary of Kenya’s Ministry of Information and Communication having served from 2005 to 2013. During his tenure in government, he initiated many transformative projects including infrastructural and development programs, as well as marketing Kenya as a destination for Business Processing Outsourcing.
He currently lectures on entrepreneurship and research methods at the University of Nairobi’s Business School. Most of his research centers on the link between ICT and small and medium enterprises in Kenya. He has spent more than two decades in the classroom and lecture halls with over 20 years of experience lecturing at the university level.
Date: 25 June, 10:00am to 12:00pm
Location: iHub
Lagos
NITEC 2016, Disruptive Technologies Catapulting African Continent’s GDP
The Nigerian Tech ecosystem is growing by the day, hence, the need to create platforms and structures that will further deepen the conversation and help new innovations grow. The Nigeria International Technology Exhibition & Conference, (NITEC 2016), coming up in June 2016, is set to serve as a catalyst to achieve these goals.
The theme of NITEC 2016 is the “Role of Disruptive Technologies in Catapulting the African Continent’s GDP”
Date: 23 June, 9:00am to 24 June, 5:00pm
Location: Civic Centre
Following from a successful 1st edition in 2015, Co-Creation Hub (CcHub), Nigeria’s premier social innovation centre in partnership with Omidyar Network is proud to host Nigeria’s 2nd Social Change Summit in June 2016. The Summit will converge stakeholders from government, business, civil societies, donors, academia and international organisations to explore concrete strategies to mobilise resources, creativity and partnerships to drive transformational change across the different systems that make Nigeria function as a good society.
Date: 23 June, 9:00am to 6:00pm
Location: Co-Creation Hub Nigeria
