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
Cygnia CEO Magda Wierzycka will talk about her struggles and triumphs in becoming one of South Africa’s first female actuarial science graduates and her experiences in the financial services industry.
Date: 18 September, 6pm to 10.30pm
Location: Workshop 17, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
For those working in startups, lean (startup) coffee is a weekly one hour coffee meetup that runs a mashup of leancoffee.org with theleanstartup.com.
Date: 20 September, 8.30am to 9.30am
Location: 1 Somerset Road, Green Point, Cape Town
Women in Tech Africa – leadership panel discussion
Rise Cape Town is hosting a panel discussion on Leadership for Women in Tech Africa Week.
Date: 20 September, 1pm to 3pm
Location: Rise Cape Town, 5th Floor, Block B, Woodstock Exchange, 66 Albert Road, Woodstock, Cape Town
MTN Solution Space – Venture Lab Pitch Night
Pitch Night provides a platform for entrepreneurs to practice pitching their idea to local angel investors and hear what other entrepreneurs are working on. After three pitches and a Q&A and feedback session from the panel, entrepreneurs are free to network and connect with each other.
Date: 21 September, 6pm to 7.30pm
Location: UCT Graduate School of Business, Solution Space, 9 Portswood Road, Green Point, Cape Town
Airbus AEROmobility: Final Pitch Event
Silicon Cape will be holding the final pitch event for the Airbus Bizlab #Africa4Future pitching competition at Workshop 17, come see startups developing solutions in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), satellite operations and Imagery, 3D printing, smart sensors and artificial intelligence (AI).
Date: 22 September, 9am to 12pm
Location: Workshop 17, 17 Dock Road, Cape Town
Johannesburg
This week’s event is on the rise of on-demand services in South Africa.
Date: 21 September
Location: Alpha Code, 3rd Floor, 2 Merchant Place, 1 Fredman Drive, Sandton
Kenya
Startupnow Entrepreneurs Bootcamp
Do you have an idea for a startup or a new product and are wondering where to start? Are you looking for great partnerships, mentorship or simply want to learn how to pitch and get investors? This full-day workshop will cover all this and more including marketing, funding, business models and pricing strategy.
Date: 20 September, 8am to 8pm
Location: StartUpNow HQ, Lavington Mall, Nairobi
Azure Accelerator Conference 2017 – Liquid Telecom and Microsoft
Learn and explore what the African Azure cloud means for Africa businesses. Topics to be discussed include digital transformation, cloud trends, cyber security and its impact on the ground.
Date: 20 September, 8.30am to 5pm
Location: Nairobi Garage, 7th Floor, Pintetree Plaza, Kaburu Drive, Ngong Road, Nairobi, Nairobi County
Innovating Justice Boostcamp Nairobi
This event will highlight this year’s semi-finalists from the HiiL Innovating Justice Challenge. During the Boostcamp a jury who will select the winners of the Innovating Justice Awards and acceleration funding worth over €20 000.
The Innovating Justice Boostcamp will feature keynote addresses followed by pitches and interactive working sessions that bring together the different worlds of entrepreneurs, investors, civil society, justice professionals and academia.
Date: 22 September, 3.30pm to 10.30pm
Location: iHub, Senteu Plaza, Galana Road / Lenana Road Junction, Nairobi
Traction Camp Demo Day and Cocktail Event
Traction Camp is a regional acceleration programme that supports emerging digital and mobile entrepreneurs from across the East African region through intensive business coaching and mentorship for up to six months.
Business angels, venture capitals, entrepreneurs, development agencies and ICT industry experts are invited to attend the demo day and cocktails. Those that attend will have the opportunity to interact with the startups and may eventually identify deals and business opportunities.
Date: 22 September, 4pm to 8pm
Location: iHub, Senteu Plaza, Galana Road / Lenana Road Junction, Nairobi
Entrepreneurship Acceleration – Learn how to brand your enterprise and manage your team
Learn how to optimise your enterprise by building a resilient brand and managing your team. You will get a chance to sign up for a two-year mentorship and coaching programme and learn how you can access affordable working capital.
Date: 22 September, 4.30pm to 6pm
Location: Ongoza, Argwings Kodhek Road, Nairobi, Nairobi County, Kenya
Thrive – An entrepreneur’s open chat
Join author, sales trainer and business growth strategist Sam Kariuki in this workshop on sales methodology and practical steps to help business owners grow revenue and increase cash flow.
Date: 22 September, 8.30am to 10pm
Location: Newscafe – Adlife (Kilimani), Nairobi, Nairobi County
Ghana
The Africa Fintech Forum 2017 roadshow comes to Ghana. The forum will hold a panel on how to empower Ghana’s fintech ecosystem.
Date: 19 September, 9am to 2pm
Location: Africa Regent Hotel, Accra, Greater Accra Region, Ghana
Join this entrepreneur hangout and learn some techniques on how to promote productivity, collaborations, growth and sustain your business.
Date: 21 September, 2pm to 6pm
Location: CEIBS, Lagos Avenue, East Legon, Accra
Nigeria
CFA Startups Hangout September edition
Connect with successful entrepreneurs and top executives at this event. Speakers include Austin Okere, entrepreneur in residence at Columbia Business School and member of the World Economic Forum Business Council on Innovation and Intrapreneurship.
Date: 22 September, 5pm to 8pm
Location: Co-Creation Hub Nigeria, 294 Herbert Macaulay Way, Lagos, Nigeria
This is a meetup organised by Imisi 3D for VR and AR enthusiasts and developers to meet each other, learn and have fun.
Date: 23 September, 11am to 5pm
Location: Co-Creation Hub Nigeria,294 Herbert Macaulay Way,Lagos, Nigeria
Are you in Lagos and considering applying to join Y Combinator? Come meet the founders of Y Combinator and learn everything you need to know to put together a strong application.
Date: 23 September, 12pm to 4pm
Location: Lagos Oriental Hotel, Lagos
With over 600 attendees expected to attend and over 40 speakers scheduled to address this year’s conference, the seventh edition of Nigeria Com is set to be the largest dedicated digital event in the region. Topics to be discussed include big data, the internet of things, mobile finance and commerce.
Date: 20 to 21 September,
Location: Lagos Oriental Hotel, Lagos
Forloop women 2.0 – The Bot Party
This event is aimed at discussing the possibilities of how we can leverage bots in our daily activities as well as businesses. The bot party will feature hands-on sessions on creating chat bots.
Date: 23 September, 11am to 4pm
Location: Africa’s talking, 249 Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria
Featured image: Team Ushahidi via Flickr (CC 2.0 BY-SA, resized)
