Looking to get into the South African startup scene or catch 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.
No ad to show here.
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
EY & WEConnect International in South Africa connect session
Jacob Schutte, EY Africa’s products and services procurement lead, and Jean Chapiwa, the country director for WEConnnect International, will host this event for women business owners. The session will include training on how to perfect your business pitching and will give attendees a chance to network with other women business owners.
Date: 14 August, 10am to 1pm
Location: EY Cape Town, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
Thundafund is South Africa’s leading online crowdfunding marketplace for creatives and innovators. The workshop is for anyone who wants to learn more about crowdfunding.
Date: 15 August, 1pm to 2pm
Location: 108 Kloof Street, Gardens, Cape Town
For people working in startups, lean (startup) coffee is a weekly one hour coffee meetup that runs a mash-up of leancoffee.org with theleanstartup.com.
Date: 16 August, 8.30am to 9.30am
Location: 1 Somerset Road, Green Point, Cape Town
The Perfect Marriage: Technology transfer and business development workshop
Want to know what due diligence is and why it is important? Are you interested in finding out about how to develop your intellectual property strategy and whether your business model is the best version it can be? Join Suzanne Wolhuter as she addresses these questions together with tips on how to attract investors. This event will be hosted by CiTi and Bandwidth Barn.
Date: 16 August, 10am to 12pm
Location: 3rd floor, Bandwidth Barn, Block B, Woodstock Exchange, 66 Albert Road, Woodstock, Cape Town
Louise Mitchell, a specialist startup and scale-up pitch and presentation coach will hold a workshop training entrepreneurs how to pitch to future investors, clients and partners.
Date: 16 August, 4pm to 7.30pm
Location: 1 Fir Street, Observatory, Cape Town
Smart and inclusive access event and challenge finals
Find out how the creation of an innovation district in Stellenbosch can drive collaboration, innovation and economic opportunities. The event will also include the final pitching round of the SID Smart and smart inclusive access challenge.
Date: 16 August, 5pm to 7.30pm
Location: Protea Hotel Marriot, Technopark, Stellenbosch
The Snapscan journey: How the fintech landscape has evolved
Estiaan le Roux will speak on the Snapscan story and how the fintech landscape has evolved.
Date: 16 August, 7pm
Location: 5th floor, Grove Exchange, 9 Grove Avenue, Claremont, Cape Town
Startupbootcamp InsurTech 2017 FastTrack tour Cape Town
Is your startup within the insurance and technology space? Does it specialise in insuretech, Internet of Things (IoT), Internet of Everything (IoE), wearables, medtech, blockchain, regtech, drones, robotics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and machine learning for financial services?
The Startupbootcamp InsurTech team wants to provide you with valuable mentorship from industry experts on its Cape Town leg of the international FastTrack tour. This is event is also a great opportunity to get an invitation to the Startupbootcamp InsurTech selection days.
Date: 17 August, 8.30am to 4pm
Location: 60 Hout Street, Cape Town
Startupbootcamp InsurTech in Cape Town: Networking and drinks
This evening social is open to entrepreneurs, tech and insuretech startups and insurance professionals. Sabine VanderLinden, the Startupbootcamp InsurTech global managing director will give an insight into the InsurTech trend report.
Date: 17 August, 5pm to 8pm
Location: 22-Seven, 60 Hout Street, Cape Town
Social networking for small businesses and startups
Ghameeda Idalene hosts this meetup where she will talk about how she started her business. This is an opportunity to meet and network with other entrepreneurs in Cape Town.
Date: 17 August, 7pm
Location: 68 Albert Road, Woodstock , Cape Town
Aspiring Black Leaders in collaboration with Instant Grass International will be hosting an educational branding and marketing meetup aimed at helping brands understand real human needs and raw emotion, not just what big data tells them in order to create better designs, smarter solutions and more authentic communication.
Date: 19 August, 1pm to 3pm
Location: Rise Cape Town, 5th Floor, Block B, Woodstock Exchange, 66 Albert Road, Cape Town
Johannesburg
Startupbootcamp InsurTech 2017 FastTrack tour Johannesburg
Is your startup within the insurance and technology space ? Does it specialise in insuretech, Internet of Things (IoT), Internet of Everything (IoE), wearables, medtech, blockchain, regtech, drones, robotics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and machine learning for financial services?
The Startupbootcamp InsurTech team wants to provide you with valuable mentorship from industry experts on its Cape Town leg of the international FastTrack tour. This is event is also a great opportunity to get an invitation to the Startupbootcamp InsurTech selection days.
Date: 14 August, 8.30am to 4pm
Location: Tshimologong Precinct, 39-47 Juta Street, Johannesburg
Startupbootcamp InsurTech in Johannesburg: Networking and drinks
This evening social is open to entrepreneurs, tech and insurtech startups and insurance professionals. Sabine VanderLinden, the Startupbootcamp InsurTech global managing director will give an insight into the InsurTech trend report.
Date: 14 August, 5pm to 8pm
Location: Tshimologong Precinct, 39-47 Juta Street, Johannesburg
Looking to build a network or interested in running your business online? Join web developers, entrepreneurs and online store owners as they exchange experiences and tips on ecommerce.
Date: 17 August, 6.30pm
Location: Circle Chambers, Brooklyn Bridge Official Park, 570 Fehrsen Street, Brooklyn, Pretoria
Bloemfontein
The Central University of Technology in the Free State is hosting this women in ICT event. Topics to be discussed include innovation, digital shift, e-strategy and mobile apps. The events aims to expose women to the benefits of ICT and to develop their skills to participate in the ICT arena.
Date: 18 August, 8.30am to 3pm
Location: CUT Hall, 1 Park Road, Bloemfontein
Durban
Alternative funding for small businesses
The SMME Business Forum is hosting this session on alternative ways small businesses could raise funding. Ntuthuko Zwane who has raised more than R500-million for businesses in a decade will be presenting the discussion.
Date: 17 August, 1pm to 3pm
Location: Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry Conference Centre, 892 Umgeni Road, Lion Match Office Park
Kenya
Entrepreneur basics: marketing and selling
This interactive workshop will teach entrepreneurs on how to develop value proposition for customer segments as well as sales strategies and channels available to reach market.
Date: 16 August, 8.30am to 1pm
Location: The Entrepreneurs Hub, Waiyaki Way, Nairobi
Ghana
Accra Startup Legal 101: Key Legal Concepts for Starting a Company
Do you want to know how to set up a company the right way? Join Belinda Noah an attorney at Minkah-Premo and Associates as well as Stella Apprenteng the CEO of Apstar Tours Limited as they talk about the pitfalls you need to avoid, what you need to start your own company, how to deal with co founders, initial team members and employees.
Date: 15 August, 6.30pm
Location: 24 Lagos Avenue, East Legon, Accra, Accra
Platinum Africa Solution CEO Derrick Vormawor will host three other entrepreneurs do discuss how to take on sales, marketing, public relations and business growth for startups and small businesses.
Date: 19 August, 9am to 11.30am
Location: Impact Hub Accra, Otswe Street,F 393/4, Accra
Angola
Learn about the mistakes other entrepreneurs have made and in the process also get to network with other founders.
Date: 17 August, 6.30pm to 9.30pm
Location: Chalé da Comida, Academia BAI (Shopping Avenida), Luanda
Featured image: Erik (HASH) Hersman via Flickr (CC 2.0 license BY-SA, resized)
