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
Social Media Workshop for Start-Ups, SMMEs and NGOs
A workshop for entrepreneurs looking to boost their presence through social media tactics such as constructing an effective digital marketing strategy.
Date: 1 February 2017, 2pm to 5pm
Location: Northern Block, Upper Eastside 31 Brickfield Road Woodstock, Cape Town
#CapeMarketing Workshops for Small Businesses in Woodstock
Join entrepreneur and photographer, Francois Rossouw and founder of BuySome Time, Rachel Gregorowsk at their discussion surrounding successful networking. They’ll also be discussing how to approach various types of networking groups as well as the do’s and don’ts of presenting your business successfully.
Date: 1 February 2017, 1pm to 2pm
Location: The Woodstock Exchange, Block A / 4th Floor, 66 Albert Road, Woodstock, Cape Town
Kick off a lean coffee methodology session around innovation & startups
Lets follow up on the Hout Bay Partnership discussion as well as follow another lean coffee methodology.
Date: 1 February, 8:00am
Location: Earthworx Garden World – coffee shop, Corner Victoria and Valley Roads Hout Bay
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. Unlike other startup meetups, lean (startup) coffee is agendaless, speakerless and talks about what you care about. We each propose topics, vote on them and talk about the most popular ones for a few minutes. Come visit to see how it works.
Date: 1 February, 8:30am to 9:30am
Location: TRUTH. coffeecult, 1 Somerset Road, Green Point
#CapeMarketing Workshops for Small Businesses in Woodstock
Are you a start-up, entrepreneur or small business owner? Perhaps you just have an inkling of an idea and need some advice or inspiration. We offer a relaxed and safe space for you to discuss any issues, ideas or success stories. If you have any marketing problems you need help with, you can bring them all to the table and tap into the wealth of experience and knowledge from the group.
Date: 1 February, 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Location: The Cape Town Garage, The Woodstock Exchange, Block A / 4th Floor, 66 Albert Road, Woodstock
#CapeMarketing Workshops for Small Businesses in Diep River
Are you a start-up, entrepreneur or small business owner? Perhaps you just have an inkling of an idea and need some advice or inspiration. We offer a relaxed and safe space for you to discuss any issues, ideas or success stories. If you have any marketing problems you need help with, you can bring them all to the table and tap into the wealth of experience and knowledge from the group.
Date: 2 February, 9:00am
Location: N/A
Akro talk with Gareth Duncan: Failure en route to success
Join Akro, as we talk to Gareth Duncan, CEO of GD Industries, TEDx speaker, Glenfiddich Maverick amongst many other accolades. At 27 Gareth already has his own journey of ups and downs and can talk on resilience in the face of disappointments on his road to success.
Date: 2 February, 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Location: 17 Shelley Road, Salt River
A meetup for women who wish to talk about other women in entrepreneurship, business and work. The meetup is meant to be a safe space for women to have an open conversation regarding the successful and the not so successful ventures lead by women.
Date: 2 February 2017, 6pm to 7:30pm
Location: Mount Nelson Hotel, 76 Orange Street, Cape Town
Johannesburg
The Purpose of this Business Networking meeting is to offer you the business owner a networking platform to promote your business/service. To meet new like minded business owners.
Date: 1 February, 8:30am
Location: Piza e Vino Eagles Landing, Corner of Scott and Christiaan de Wet Rd, Randpark Ridge
A targeted networking event for specific businesses which requires you to notify the organisers of your profession beforehand.
Date: 1 February 2017, 7am to 8:30am
Location: The Street Cafe, 40 St Andrews Road, Johannesburg
Social Network for Women in Business
A networking event specifically for women in leading businesses.
Date: 1 February 2017, 9am
Venue: Cuppa Volte Cafe, Gable Centre, Hendrik Verwoerd dr, Pretoria
Nigeria
There is never a perfect time to LIVE your DREAM. YOU are the DREAM and the TIME is NOW to awaken yourself by acting it out. You don’t have to be great to get started but you have to get started to be great. Today is the day to change your course of action; Join us at our Entrepreneurs Forum and begin your journey to a life of financial freedom.
Date: 2 February, 12:00pm to 2:00pm
Location: Surulere, 103, Ojuelegba road, Surulere, Lagos
Access to Funding for SME(s) Start-up, Growth & Expansion
The growth of Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria has been marred by several challenges with access to capital being one the most common feature peculiar with SMEs in the country. Several socio-economic factors compounds this particular challenge in the SME sector and causes a large number of SMEs to shut down within the first five years of operation.
Date: 31 January, 9:00am to 16:00pm
Location: Ikeja, 5th Floor, Mosesola House, 103 Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos
Kenya
Thrive 2017 will aim to equip businesses with ways o find sources of finance as well as how to access them. The event will also aim to teach businesses to successfully scale.
Date: 3 February 2017, 7am to 10am
Venue: Hotel Intercontinental, City-Hall Way, Nairobi, Nairobi County
Spark* Kenya’s demo day which aims to support social entrepreneurs will be hosting the 10 Spark* Changemakers at their five-day accelerator in Nairobi. Here, they will pitch in front of an invited audience of some of Nairobi’s best social entrepreneurs.
Date: 3 February 2017, 10am to 12:30pm
Venue: The Amani Institute, 2nd Floor, Insecta Center, Braeside Gardens, Off Muthangari Road, Lavington, Nairobi
Excellent Customer Communication Skills Training
This workshop will aim to improve business’ customer service and communications by understanding the benefits of providing good customer service and much more.
Date: 4 February 2017, 2pm to 7pm
Venue: Panari Hotel, Mombasa Rd, Nairobi, Nairobi County
Social Media Marketing for the Small Business
This workshop will teach you how to expand your business’ reach through social media using marketing strategies, various channels and much more.
Date: 4 February 2017, 9am to 12pm
Venue: The Nairobi Safari Club, Lillian Towers, P. O. Box 43564 University Way, Nairobi City
Kisumu Sinapis Investor Readiness Workshop
In partnership with LakeHub, PEFA Kisumu, Maseno University, KNCCI, Inbox Africa and MSEA, this free workshop will aim to help buisness’ raise enough funding for their ventures.
Date: 4 February 2017, 8am to 1pm
Venue: Kisumu Hotel, Opposite Maseno Kisumu, Kisumu, Kenya
Online
Impactful Company Online Demo Day: Presentations from Up-and-Coming Startups
There is no shortage of big problems facing humanity, but there is a shortage of ambitious startups trying to solve them. However, more than ever before, entrepreneurs building impact-focused companies can truly change the world. On this special, online “Demo Day” event, five up-and-coming startups trying to solve some of the world’s biggest problems (including water, farming, pollution, and emissions) will present their businesses to a panel of investors for feedback.
Date: 31 January, 7:30pm
Location: Online
Have a startup event that you’d like featured on next week’s event roundup? Send us an email.
