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.
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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
This technical seminar on deep learning will cover a range of topics including artificial intelligence, convolutional neural networks for image recognition, machine learning and deep learning fundamentals.
Date: 22 August, 10am to 11am
Location: Theory Room 1.19, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Mowbray Campus, Highbury Road, 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: 22 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: 23 August, 8.30am to 9.30am
Location: 1 Somerset Road, Green Point, Cape Town
Compliance workshop 1: Introduction to key South African taxes
This compliance workshop series looks at the legal requirements all businesses have to comply with. This particular event is for business owners who want to get a better understanding of South African taxes and how they impact their businesses.
Date: 23 August, 8.30am to 12.30pm
Location: To be announced
Are you curious about cryptocurrency? Do you want to know the difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum or why the price of Bitcoin has skyrocketed? Join Devon Krantz of Linum Labs and Sonya Kuhnel of Blockchain Academy as they discuss cryptocurrency and answer some of these questions.
Date: 23 August, 4.30pm to 7pm
Location: 5th Floor, Woodstock Exchange, 66 Albert Road, Woodstock, Cape Town
Silicon Cape #SC Talk : Women in tech
The August Silicon Cape Talk will highlight the achievement of women, proving that a woman’s place can be wherever she wants to be.
Date: 23 August, 5.30pm to 8pm
Location: Workshop 17, Dock Road, V & A Waterfront, Cape Town
This will be the ninth successive season of My Business Expo and the Business Startup show. With hundreds of interactive exhibits, world-class seminars and sessions by business experts, the event will provide delegates with an opportunity to discuss every facet of doing business right from startup to growth and success.
Date: 24 August, 9am to 5pm
Location: Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), Cape Town
This technical seminar on deep learning will cover a range of topics including artificial intelligence, convolutional neural networks for image recognition, machine learning and deep learning fundamentals.
Date: 24 August, 1pm to 2pm
Location: CS2A, Computer Science Building, University of Cape Town
Digital Currencies – how they can transform your life
The co-founders of oil and gas exploration company Africa New Energies, Stephen Larkin and Shakes Motsilili will host this wide ranging presentation on a range of topics from digital currencies to why traditional investment models are no longer sustainable and the blockchain.
Date: 26 August, 8.30am to 12pm
Location: The Mitre, Bishops Diocesan College, 65 Campground Road,Cape Town
Johannesburg
Startup Grind hosts Gareth Cliff
At this month’s event Gareth Cliff, the co-founder of online content hub Cliff Central, will talk about his entrepreneurial adventures and what inspires him to be an entrepreneur.
Date: 22 August, 5.30pm to 8.30pm
Location: Open Sandton, 138 West Street, Sandton
THUD Rosebank in partnership with Standard Bank Incubator and Mesh Club will bring you this event where Money Fam founder and managing editor Cikida Gcali, Fedhealth Medical Scheme business unit head Charlotte Matroshe and Oviedo Tech Media founder and managing director Naledi Mosiane will talk about why it is important to invest in women-owned businesses.
Date: 25 August, 6pm to 9pm
Location: Mesh Club, 2nd Floor, 21 Keyes Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg
60 minutes with Nicky Newton-King
JSE CEO Nicky Newton-King will and Business and Markets news anchor at the SABC Nompu Siziba will host an interactive talk on ethics and the economy. This corporate networking breakfast is being held in aid of non-profit organisation Afrika Tikkun.
Date: 25 August, 7am to 9am
Location: Wanderers Club, 21 North Street, Illovo, Johannesburg
Kenya
Come see eight to 10 Kenyan startups pitch for a chance to win a trip to the final round of global innovation contest the Challenge Cup.
Date: 22 August, 12pm to 4.30pm
Location: iHub, Nairobi County, Nairobi
Crowdsolving: Gain from the experience of your peers in solving your problem
Find out how a community of entrepreneurs who might be running a different type of business to but are facing the same issues can come solve the problem together through crowd solving.
Date: 24 August, 1pm to 4pm
Location: The Entrepreneurs Hub, Waiyaki Way, Nairobi
If you are interested in tech entrepreneurship and appreciate and want to learn from women entrepreneurs about their experiences, this event is for you. Come join other people interested in supporting women in leadership and tech in Nairobi.
Date: 24 August, 6pm to 9pm
Location: Metta Nairobi, 14 Riverside Drive, Nairobi County, Nairobi
Startup Grind hosts Dr Wangwe Ongeti
Dr Wangwe Ongeti founder of Aquadent Company Limited will speak at this month’s Startup Grind event.
Date: 25 August, 5pm to 8pm
Location: Comfy Inn, Ronald Ngala Street, Eldoret
Nigeria
Startzone open house and information session
Are you working on an exciting tech product and are interested in joining the Startzone community? Grab this opportunity to find out more about how the Startzone incubation hub can help your startup.
Date: 22 August, 9am to 26 August, 5pm
Location: The Zone Centre Plot 9, Block A, Gbagada Industrial Scheme, Beside UPS Gbagada Expressway, Lagos
TechCabal’s office hours with Mark Essien
This is a series of interactive Q&A sessions led by industry experts to help entrepreneurs who need assistance working through certain issues. Join Hotels.ng founder Mark Essien as he discusses the challenges of running a startup as a technical founder.
Date: 23 August
Location: No 3, Birrel Avenue, off Herbert Macaulay Way, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos
This hackathon is open to all entrepreneurs and innovative software developers. Guest speakers will also talk to attendees in between breaks.
Date: 24 August, 8 am to 26 August, 6pm
Location: Cedar Point Events Centre 4, New Era Road Iyana Ipaja,Lagos
Ventures Platform Foundation officer hours
Ventures Platform Foundation supports entrepreneurs building solutions that can solve Africa’s most urgent problems. The foundation’s office hours are a business clinic where founders and other entrepreneurs can meet with mentors and discuss business challenges. The event will consist of a fireside chat as well as a one-on-one session.
Date: 24 August, 4pm to 6.30pm
Location: 29 Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Abuja
TechCabal Radar AMA session with Yele Bademosi
Join Yele Bademosi the founder and managing partner of early-stage investment platform Microtraction on a TechCabal Radar session.
Date: 25 August, 2pm
Location: Online
Startup Grind hosts Muyiwa Matuluko
This month’s meetup is themed “Next level grind” and will see Startup Grind host Muyiwa Matuluko, the co-founder and chief editor of news publishing platform Techpoint.ng. Additionally Didi Uwemakpan will also feature in a session on market sizing. Uwemakpan has extensive experience across advertising, branding and consumer insight across Kenya, France and the UK.
Date: 26 August, 3pm to 5pm
Location: Capital Square, 114b Ilupeju Street, Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos
Ghana
This two day summit is a major gathering of investors, corporate executives and entrepreneurs. Discussions will see high-level discussions on investment opportunities in financial services, tech, energy and services.
Date: 20 August, 5pm to 22 August, 9pm
Location: Kempinski Hotel, Gold Coast City Accra, Gamel Abdul Nasser Avenue Accra, Greater Accra Region
Accra startup office hours: Get business advice from experts
Do you have a startup or a startup idea and are looking for guidance and feedback from top local entrepreneurs? This event will give you an opportunity to pitch to CEOs and mentors who will give you insight into how to tackle the problems you are facing.
Date: 22 August, 6.30pm
Location: 24 Lagos Avenue, East Legon, Accra
Barcamp Somanya 2017 is a free networking forum where innovators and entrepreneurs can learn, share and get mentorship. The event is organised by Verdant Global, Radix Nest and Ghana Think Tank Foundation.
Date: 26 August, 9am to 4pm
Location: Methodist hall, Somanya
Featured image: Tech.Co via Flickr (CC 2.0 license BY-SA, resized)
