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
The summit will explore the impact and value of open data on society and how Africa can drive economic gains from it. Learn about the City of Cape Town’s open data initiative and how startups, civil society and academia have used it.
The event also intends to introduce investors and donors to an expanding sector that seeks and supplies open data to achieve development goals in Africa and across the globe.
Date: 5 February, 1pm to 5.30pm
Location: Workshop 17, 17 Dock Road, Cape Town
Future Females: Inspirational leadership starts with ‘Why’
This workshop is part of the Future Females leadership series in collaboration with Jackie Palmer.
The focus of the event is on empowering female leaders (entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs) to become authentic, purpose-driven leaders who are able to empower other females to reach their full potential.
Date: 6 February, 8am to 9.15am
Location: Barclays Rise, 5th Floor, Block B, Woodstock Exchange, 66 Albert Road, Woodstock, 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: 7 February, 8.30am to 9.30am
Location: 1 Somerset Road, Green Point, Cape Town
Circular economy mapping session
Want to expand your knowledge around circular initiatives taking place in Cape Town? During the session, you will work in teams to identify circular initiatives happening in the city across different sectors and types of organisations.
Date: 8 February, 10am to 12.30am
Location: JG AFRIKA – Cape Town, 14 Central Square, Pinelands, Cape Town
Facebook boost your business workshop
Join Yoco and Digify Bytes for this workshop which will provide businesses and entrepreneurs with the latest tools, insights, and best practices for achieving success on Facebook and Instagram.
Date: 8 February, 10m to 2pm
Location: Yoco, 56 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town
Cape Town startup office hours
If you have a startup or startup idea and would like to get feedback and guidance from top local entrepreneurs, then join this event. At the event, attendees will have the opportunity to pitch to expert CEO mentors and ask them questions about their business strategy, key decisions and next steps.
This is an opportunity to learn how experienced entrepreneurs would tackle the problems you or others are facing.
Date: 8 February, 12.30pm to 3.30pm
Location: Quirky 30, Monwabisi Hall, Rose Innes Street, Langa, Cape Town
Johannesburg
Are you an expert incubator or accelerator in Johannesburg? Then join ANDE South Africa for the second roundtable discussion on incubation and acceleration in South Africa and insights from GALI.
Date: 7 February, 9am to 1pm
Location: OPEN Sandton, 138 West Street, Sandton, Johannesburg
Facebook boost your business workshop
Join Yoco and Digify Bytes for this workshop which will provide businesses and entrepreneurs with the latest tools, insights, and best practices for achieving success on Facebook and Instagram.
Date: 8 February, 10am to 2pm
Location: Yoco Store, 4th Avenue and 11th Street, Parkhurst, Johannesburg
Fishackathon, a partnership between the US Department of State and HackerNest, aims to make Earth’s waters, aquaculture, and fisheries more sustainable and equitable.
The hackathon will focus on sustainability, enforcement and marketplace.
Date: 10 to 11 February, 8am to 8pm
Location: TBD
Algeria
Global Startup Weekend Women Oran
The Global Startup Weekend Women — an international initiative led by Paris to make entrepreneurial projects more diverse and inclusive, and to highlight the impact of women in entrepreneurship — teams up with Techstars this week to accelerate Oran’s women entrepreneurs.
The event will follow the Techstars Startup Weekend format where entrepreneurs look for a team, create a prototype, validate business ideas, and receive feedback from experienced entrepreneurs — all in one weekend.
Date: 8 to 10 February, 7.30pm to 10pm
Location: National Institute of Telecommunications and Information and Communication Technologies (INTTIC), Oran
Global Startup Weekend Women Cyberparc
As part of Global Startup Weekend Women, Techstars is hosting this two-day event which seeks to help accelerate female-led businesses.
Date: 8 to 10 February, 4pm to 8pm
Location: Cyberparc of Sidi Abdellah, Rahmania
How to build your startup conference
Join this event to learn about what you need to know when raising funding, building a good team and choosing you co-founders among other important steps towards building a startup.
Date: 8 February, 9am to 12.30pm
Location: CINTTIC D’Oran, Oran, Wilaya d’Oran
Ghana
Become a globally successful tech entrepreneur
Do you aspire to build your own pan-African tech company? Do you want to learn more about how you can join one of the biggest startup communities on the continent?
Join the MEST Africa team as they share their experience working with entrepreneurs from across the continent.
Date: 10 February, 12pm to 1pm
Location: Kumasi Hive, Hse 49, SE 29056 Drive, 2nd Turn Behind Mizpah School, Kentinkrono,Kumasi
Join players from the Ghanaian startup ecosystem to discuss current issues and opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors in Ghana and the West African region.
Participants will also have the chance to meet mentors, investors and policy makers for support and to gain insights on best ways to build their business and also meet other successful startups from West Africa.
Date: 8 February, 6pm to 10.30pm
Location: Bosphorus Restaurant and Café, Accra, Greater Accra Region
Kenya
French Tech Nairobi: Mobility afterwork
This event is part of a new series of themed meetups on mobility, energy and foodtech.
Join Buupass founder Leslie Ossette, Myride Kenya COO Edward Mbogo, Arkadin business developer Gabriel Mahe, and Mobiticket CEO Nickson Nyakambi as they discuss tech’s impact on mobility in Kenya.
Date: 6 February, 6pm to 9pm
Location: Mettā Nairobi, 14 Riverside Drive, Nairobi, Nairobi County
Nest’s #WhatsNext entrepreneurship speaker series brings together some of the brightest minds in a specific sector to learn about emerging trends and how to prepare for them.
This month, the focus is on the talent (job) sector with an aim of uncovering the state of the talent industry across tech startups, corporates and government. The panel discussion will revolve around academia, job transition, hiring practices, and talent management among other topics.
Date: 7 February, 6pm to 8pm
Location: Mettā Nairobi, 14 Riverside Drive, Nairobi, Nairobi County
Funding for African startups: A chat with TLcom TIDE Africa Fund
TIDE Africa is an international venture capital fund focused exclusively on technology enabled services and innovation for Sub-Saharan Africa across all stages of the venture capital cycle.
During this event, TLcom TIDE Africa founder and managing partner Maurizio Caio and Andreata Muforo will talk about funds available for African startups and what they look out for as investors.
Date: 7 February, 6pm to 9pm
Location: IHub, Senteu Plaza, Galana Rd, Nairobi, Nairobi
Story time: Startup Grind success session
Join successful entrepreneurs as they share the stories on how they managed to achieve success in their businesses.
Date: 8 February, 6pm to 9pm
Location: Metta Nairobi, Belgravia Suite 6A, 14 Riverside, Nairobi
Fishackathon, a partnership between the US Department of State and HackerNest, aims to make Earth’s waters, aquaculture, and fisheries more sustainable and equitable.
The hackathon will focus on sustainability, enforcement and marketplace.
Date: 10 to 11 February, 8am to 8pm
Location: TBD
Nigeria
Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) application training outreach
Are you interested in applying for the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme? Do you need guidance on the application process? Then make it a date by registering for the programme organised by WomenX 12 in collaboration with TEF Alumni.
Date: 6 February, 10am to 2pm
Location: Eng. Oyebolu House, Nigerian Society of Engineers, Works Dept. University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos
Global Startup Weekend Women Abia
Are you a female entrepreneur in Abia? The Global Startup Weekend Women — an international initiative led by Paris to make entrepreneurial projects more diverse and inclusive, and to highlight the impact of women in entrepreneurship — teams up with Techstars this week to accelerate Abia’s women entrepreneurs.
The event will follow Techstars Startup Weekend’s format where entrepreneurs look for a team, create a prototype, validate business ideas, and receive feedback from experienced entrepreneurs — all in one weekend.
Date: 9 to 11 February, 3.30pm to 8pm
Location: Innovation Growth Hub, 62 Asa Road, Aba, Abia 450211
The SmartHUB and Ventures Park host this meetup aimed at Abuja’s tech community, the event aims to help tech entrepreneurs improve their knowledge of how business works in the tech sector.
Date: 10 February, 11am to 1pm
Location: Ventures Park, 29 Mambilla Street, FCT, Abuja, Nigeria
Harmony Innovation Hub mobile apps meetup
Want to develop your ideas into marketable and profitable products and services? Come and learn how to tap into Oracle and Thunkable at this mobile apps meetup which will be held in collaboration with Oracle Africa.
Date: 10 February, 9.30am to 4pm
Location: Harmony Innovation Hub, Gwarinpa, Abuja, Harmony Innovation Hub, Abuja, FCT
Rwanda
Join entrepreneurs, investors and innovators for the inaugural Rwanda Venture Capital Salon to discuss issues related to venture capital and investing in Rwanda and the rest of Africa.
Date: 10 February, 6.30pm to 9.30pm
Location: Kigali Marriott Hotel, KN 3 Avenue, Kigali, Kigali City, Rwanda
Tunisia
Global Startup Weekend Women Tunis
Join other female entrepreneurs from Tunis as they look for a team, create a prototype, validate business ideas, and receive feedback from experienced entrepreneurs — all in one weekend.
Date: 9 to 11 February, 6pm to 9pm
Location: GoMyCode Hackerspace, Rue du lac lochness, Immeuble NEO, 2ème étage, Les Berges du Lac 1, Tunis
Featured image: afromusing via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0 , resized)
