Looking to get into the South African startup scene or brush up on some of your skills? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
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
Yoco Meets is an empowerment platform where entrepreneurs participate in a product showcase, entrepreneurship chat, and a networking session.
Yoco Meets allow you to share the process of making your own product, the journey of building your business around that product and everything that’s happened in between.
Date: 12 January, 6pm to 8pm
Location: 56 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town
Want to grow your business but don’t have the funds? Then crowdfunding may just be the thing for you.
Learn more at this Thundafund crowdfunding workshop.
Date: 13 February, 12.30pm to 1.30am
Location: Thundafund.com, 22 Napier Street, Cape Town
Mentorship: The secret weapon of successful startups
By inviting guests to speak on a range of topics that address common pain points faced by all founders, Solution Space Learning Lunches provide a space for entrepreneurs to learn from experts in their field.
This week CFC Consulting AME director Daniel Beukes unpacks startup mentorship. Beukes will discuss what mentorship is and what it is not, how to find the right mentor, how to establish relationship rules, and the 10 commandments of mentorship.
Date: 13 February, 1pm to 2.30pm
Location: UCT Graduate School of Business, Solution Space, 9 Portswood Road, Cape Town
For those working in startups, lean (startup) coffee is a weekly one-hour coffee meetup that runs a mash-up of leancoffee.org with theleanstartup.com.
Unlike other startup meetups, lean (startup) coffee has no set agenda or a line-up of speakers, instead, the talks are centred around what you care about.
Date: 14 February, 8.30am to 9.30am
Location: 1 Somerset Road, Green Point, Cape Town
Rise to the challenge: Digital identities
Join ThisIsMe head of marketing Brennen Wright and Claro Partners strategy and innovation director Cyril Maury as they discuss the importance of digital identities,what’s already happening and potential solutions in the space.
Date: 14 February, 2pm to 4pm
Location: Rise Cape Town, Block B, 5th Floor, Woodstock Exchange, 66 Albert Road, Cape Town
MEST information session: Become a globally successful tech entrepreneur
Do you aspire to build your own pan-African tech company? Join the MEST Africa team as they share their experience working with entrepreneurs from across the continent.
For the third time running, MEST is opening up recruitment in South Africa and is on a drive to meet aspiring tech entrepreneurs within the region in preparation for the MEST Cape Town recruitment drive happening this month.
Date: 17 February, 10am to 12.30pm
Location: MEST Incubator Cape Town, Block A, 4th Floor, Woodstock Exchange, 66 Albert Road, Cape Town
Future Females: #myday Morning self-care
This week’s Future Female event will share tips on how to become a balanced entrepreneur.
Date: 17 February, 8am to 1.15pm
Location: Workshop 17, 17 Dock Road, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
Johannesburg
This week BCN Consultancy founder Busisiwe Ntuli shares practical information on the importance and process of goal setting, career navigation, and getting started among other topics.
Date: 12 February, TBA
Location: The Innovation Centre, Mark Shuttleworth Street, The Innovation Hub, Tshwane
Young Women Entrepreneurship Summit
Join EGHAD founder Nonhlanhla Mduli, CB Productions founder and CEO Carol Bouwer, Uyanda Mbuli Corporation CEO Uyanda Mbuli, HESED Consulting CEO Vumile MSweli, and Motseng Investment Holdings CEO Ipeleng Mkhari for this gathering of women entrepreneurs.
Date: 17 February, 10.30 am to 5pm
Location: 77 Kruger Road, President Park, Midrand
Kenya
Tech Lex 101: Technological uptake by Kenyan law firms
This session will be an in-depth analysis on legal-tech innovation in Kenya.
The event will focus on the uptake of tech solutions, report on challenges and failures in the field and aim to discuss how law firms can be encouraged to adopt more tech.
Date: 13 February, 6pm to 8pm
Location: Mettā Nairobi, 14 Riverside Drive, Belgravia Building 6F, Nairobi
Nigeria
MEST Lagos Masterclass: Strategies for building an ‘investable’ company
Want to know how you can attract the world’s leading investors to your firm? In this masterclass, serial investor and entrepreneur Ike Eze will teach proven strategies for building an “investable” company.
Date: 13 February, 5.30pm to 8pm
Location: MEST Incubator Lagos, 19b Adeyemi Lawson Road, Ikoyi Lagos, Lagos LA 101233
Civic innovation Lab is hosting a discussion on sustainable solutions to the problems in Abuja.
Date: 14 February, 11am to 12pm
Location: Civic Innovation Lab, Abuja, 50 Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent, Osas and Oseji House, Beside H-medix Pharmacy, Wuse II, Abuja
Rwanda
Africa Tech Summit Kigali will provide insights, networking and business opportunities for African and international tech leaders and investors.
Delegates will learn from 50 expert speakers, explore trends and connect with key stakeholders on the continent.
Date: 14 to 15 February, 9am to 6pm
Location: Kigali Marriott Hotel, KN 3 Avenue, Kigali, Kigali City
Startup Grind fireside chat with Joel Macharia
Startup Grind hosts Abacus founder and CEO Joel Macharia. His company is Kenya’s only online multi-asset class brokerage.
Abacus enables local and global investors to invest in Kenyan stocks, government bonds and unit trusts under one investment account. The company intends to provide access to Africa’s major markets under one account in the next three years.
Date: 15 February, 2.30pm to 4.30pm
Location: Kigali Marriott Hotel, KN 3 Avenue, Kigali, Kigali City
Uganda
Entrepreneurship and makerspaces
The Innovation Village in partnership with the US Mission to Uganda will host an Entrepreneurship Track by Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur and global business development expert Cheryl Edison.
The event will culminate in a demo day where entrepreneurs will be able to pitch for funding of between US$500 and US$1000.
Date: 14 February, 9am to 4pm
Location: The Innovation Village Kampala, Plot 14A Chwa II Road, Kampala, Central Region, Uganda
Featured image: AppsAfrica.com via Facebook
