SA will be receiving its first national non-profit association to grow angel investors, named the South African Business Angel Network (SABAN). It is set to launch on 24 August in Johannesburg.
According to a blog post on VC4A, the inspiration for SABAN came about when SA entrepreneur Chris Campbell, was involved with EBAN Winter University 2014 in Helsinki, Finland, along with pitching in SA. Campbell realised a need to easily connect businesses with angel investors in SA.
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It is headed up by Campbell; Bodo Sieber, CEO of Tagmarshal and Mvikeli Hlophe, fund manager at SA Enterprise.
This new initiative will pull inspiration from the Finnish Business Angels Network and the Lagos Angel Network on how to create a business angel network.
The African Business Angel Network (ABAN) — billed as a network of networks — has been instrumental in providing support for SABAN.
Work on SABAN began in May 2016, with the consultation and support of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Newton Partners, Allan Gray Orbis, and Knife Capital among many others so far.
There are a number of prolific startup industry individuals who have helped the initiative, which includes Llew Classen, Matsi Modise, Elizabeth Gould, Abu Cassim, and more.
According to the post, the South African Department of Trade and Industry is also willing to help connect SABAN with the European Commission.
Another launch event for SABAN is expected to take place in November in Cape Town. By early 2017, the initiative is expected to be fully operational.
