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
Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance Colloquium
The Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance Colloquium is a chance to learn more about Harambeans as well as opportunities available to young entrepreneurs wishing to scale their efforts.
The colloquium will be led by Harambe’s founder and chairman, Okendo Lewis-Gayle, who will share lessons learned on a decade of supporting young innovators across Africa.
Date: 24 November, 4.30pm to 6pm
Location: UCT Graduate School of Business, Solution Space, 9 Portswood Road, Cape Town
If you have an idea for a startup that could use some refinement, then join the Startup Ideation Bootcamp. The workshop will help you improve your idea, come up with new ideas and even recruit potential co-founders.
Date: 21 November, 6.30pm to 9.30pm
Location: Sisco House, 17 Shelley Road, Suite 5 (or EduOne), Salt River
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: 22 November, 8.30am to 9.30am
Location: 1 Somerset Road, Green Point, Cape Town
Future Females : Build and use your influence
Join this event to explore how we have positive effects, and learn how you can identify your own and other people’s negative effects.
We will hear from two inspirational speakers on how they use influence in the workplace, and learn practical, actionable strategies to make friends and influence people.
Date: 22 November, 6pm to 8.30pm
Location: Workshop 17, 17 Dock Road, V & A Waterfront, Cape Town
Johannesburg
Startup Grind hosts Marnus Broodryk (Shark Tank, Beancounter)
This month Startup Grind hosts Beancounter founder and CEO Marnus Broodryk — the youngest investor to be on the international television show Shark Tank.
He started off washing cars and cutting grass to pay for school, followed by 18-hour days to get through articles and part-time tertiary education.
To date, Broodryk has launched and sold three tech companies, a glass company, a construction company, and even a vegan restaurant.
Date: 21 November, 5.30pm to 8.30pm
Location: The Standard Bank Incubator Rosebank, 5 Cradock Avenue Rosebank , Rosebank
Ghana
Tech in Ghana Conference Accra
Tech in Ghana Conference Accra will showcase groundbreaking local innovations and provide a platform to highlight, discuss and stimulate the growth of Ghana’s digital development.
Date: 21 to 22 November, 8am to 6pm
Location: Accra Digital Centre, Adjacent State Housing Company, Ring Road West, Accra, Greater Accra Region
Kenya
The art of networking to grow your startup (Breakfast workshop)
This workshop will teach you what networking is and simple tips and tricks to build your strategy and move forward. Expect an interactive session with a few exercises.
Date: 21 November, 7.30am to 9.30am
Location: The Kijiji, Ngong Lane, Daykio Plaza, Nairobi, Nairobi County
Think & Exchange Lab: Value creation for your customers
As part of the East Africa & Europe Startup Mentoring programme, German-based non-profit Enpact is organizing a series of workshops between the 20th and the 24th of November.
Date: 24 November, 5pm to 7.30pm
Location: Nairobi Garage, Ngong Road office, Pinetree plaza, 7th floor, Nairobi
Startups Hub Collaborative Space Launch
Startup Hub Africa (SUHA) is a collaborative space for Africa’s most disruptive upcoming startups. An initiative of StartUpNow and Target Office, SUHA brings together young entrepreneurs and startups from different sectors, creatives and corporates to work together under one roof to create partnerships and get access to mentors.
Date: 25 November, 2pm to 5pm
Location: The Riverfront, Uber, Prof David Wasawo Drive, 00-500, Nairobi, Nairobi County
Malawi
Startup Weekends are 54-hour events designed to provide experiential education for technical and non-technical entrepreneurs. Beginning with Friday night pitches and continuing through brainstorming, business plan development, and basic prototype creation, the weekends culminate in Sunday night demos and presentations.
Date: 24 November to 26 November
Location: mHub, Corporate Mall, Suite 10, Area 4, Lilongwe
Nigeria
High Growth Africa Summit 2017 (Investor Pass)
This two-day conference is dedicated to teaching entrepreneurs how to build, scale and fund high growth businesses in Africa.
It will convene successful business founders and operators from Silicon Valley, UK and Africa who will share practical how-to guides on strategy, tactics and tools startup founders can use to grow their business in Africa.
Date: 24 November to 26 November
Location: Landmark Centre, Plot 2&3 Water Corporation Road, Victoria Island, Lagos State
Startup Weekends are 54-hour events designed to provide experiential education for technical and non-technical entrepreneurs.
Beginning with Friday night pitches and continuing through brainstorming, business plan development, and basic prototype creation, the weekends culminate in Sunday night demos and presentations.
Date: 24 November to 26 November
Location: Hubitz, 69 Enwe Street, Uyo
Togo
Startup Weekends are 54-hour events designed to provide experiential education for technical and non-technical entrepreneurs. Beginning with Friday night pitches and continuing through brainstorming, business plan development, and basic prototype creation, the weekends culminate in Sunday night demos and presentations.
Date: 24 November to 26 November
Location: Ecole CIB -INTA, Kara, Kara
Featured image: afromusing via Flickr (CC 2.0 BY-SA, resized)
