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
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: 25 April, 8.30am to 9.30am
Location: 1 Somerset Road, Green Point, Cape Town
Solution Space Pitch Night: Edtech, learning re-imagined
Solution Space Pitch Nights provide a platform for entrepreneurs to practice pitching their startup to local angel investors and hear what other entrepreneurs are working on.
This month edtech startups re-imagining and innovating teaching and learning pitch their business solutions to a panel of industry experts.
Date: 24 April, 6pm to 7.30pm
Location: UCT Graduate School of Business, Solution Space, 9 Portswood Road, Cape Town
MEST Africa community conversations: Emerging trends in lifestyle technology
Join Treeshake co-founder Maximillian Kaizen as she talks about the emerging trends in lifestyle technology that are impacting the way we work and live.
Date: 24 April, 1pm to 2pm
Location: MEST Cape Town. Woodstock Exchange, 66 – 68 Albert Road, 401a Woodstock Exchange, Cape Town
Rise to the Challenge: Big data and artificial intelligence
Rise to the Challenge is an event series exploring the technology areas that are shaping the future of the financial industry. Rise is bringing together industry experts and startups to host a thought-provoking discussion around what the future holds.
Join Praekelt head data scientist Charles Copley, Machine Learning Institute of Africa founder Jacques Ludik and Clevva CEO Ryan Falkenberg as they uncover the trends in big data and artificial intelligence at this week’s event.
Date: 25 April, 10am to 12pm
Location: Rise Cape Town, 66 Albert Road, Woodstock Exchange building, Block B, 5th Floor, Cape Town
Johannesburg
FuckUp Night April: Unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit
FuckUp Nights are a global movement to share stories of business and professional failure. This week join two entrepreneurs — Moloisi Mabeba and Lesego Molotsi — as they share their failures.
Date: 25 April, 10am to 12pm
Location: Impact Hub Joburg, 4th Floor, East Wing, 9 Walters Street, 158 Jan Smuts Building, Rosebank, Johannesburg
Future Females: Getting started, turning your idea into a business
Future Females aims to accelerate the success of aspiring and existing female entrepreneurs by providing an environment where females can connect, and access the key resources needed to succeed — mentorship, funding, and education.
This week’s event will feature who want to inspire other women to take the leap towards being Boss Babes.
Date: 25 April, 6pm to 8.30pm
Location: OPEN Sandton, 138 West Street, Sandton
Startup Grind Johannesburg fireside chat with Mark Sham (Suits and Sneakers)
Suits and Sneakers CEO Mark Sham is on a mission to disrupt South Africa’s education landscape. Sham believes YouTube, podcasts and the internet have democratised education just like WhatsApp and Skype democratised communication.
Join this fireside chat to learn more about his belief — that for us to be truly ready for the future, we need a balance between formal and informal education; suits and sneakers.
Date: 24 April, 6pm to 9pm
Location: Impello Incubation Hub, 139 Greenway Avenue, Greenside, Johannesburg
Kenya
#WhatsNext : Financial inclusion
Nest’s #WhatsNext thought-leadership series brings together some of the brightest minds in a particular sector to discuss about various issues affecting an industry and to predict the next big thing in the next five years.
This month’s discussion is on financial inclusion. The focus is on digital identity, the new network effect, going beyond access to usage and collaboration initiatives that include fintech, regtech and mega platforms.
Date: 25 April, 6pm to 8.30pm
Location: Mettā Nairobi, 14 Riverside Drive, 6F Belgravia building 6A
Techstars Startup Weekend Nairobi
Techstars Startup Weekends are 54-hour events designed to provide superior experiential education for technical and non-technical entrepreneurs.
Beginning with Friday night pitches and continuing through brainstorming, business plan development, and basic prototype creation, Techstars Startup Weekends culminate in Sunday night demos and presentations.
Date: 27 to 29 April, 9pm
Location: Spire Office, Daykio Plaza, Ngong Lane (off Ngong Road, next to Prestige), Nairobi
Nigeria
Startup Grind Lagos hosts Adé Bantu and Blessing Achu
This week Startup Grind Lagos hosts social activist and entrepreneur Adé Bantu and 360 Creative Hub founder Blessing Achu in a meetup themed Reinventing your business.
Date: 28 April, 3pm to 6pm
Location: Cranium One, 1 Towry Close, Off Idejo Street, Adeola Odeku, Lagos
Tunisia
Join this 111 Co-Think organised workshop on Tunisia’s new Startup Act.
Date: 27 April, 6pm to 8pm
Location: 111-CoThink, 14 Rue Emir Abdelkader, Mutuelle Ville, Tunis, Tunis 1002
Uganda
Fall Armyworm Tech Prize info session
The Fall Armyworm Tech Prize is seeking digital tools and approaches that source, analyse and translate data for smallholder farmers — and those who support them — so they can make timely, accurate, and relevant decisions around combating the spread and effects of fall armyworm.
The prize will award $400 000 for digital solutions that support food security and fall army worm resilience in Africa.
Date: 23 April, 6pm to 7pm
Location: Outbox Hub, Lumumba Avenue, Kampala
Zambia
DataHack for Financial Inclusion Competition pitch event
Insight2impact’s DataHack for Financial Inclusion (DataHack4FI) is an African innovation competition that promotes evidence-based decision-making for improved financial service provision to low-income individuals.
DataHack4FI is aimed at the delivery of appropriate financial services to underserved and low-income segments of society, in a way that enables them to meet their needs to consume, manage risks and unlock opportunities to improve their lives.
Date: 25 April, 6pm to 8.30pm
Location: Radisson Blu Hotel, Lusaka, 19029 Great East, Lusaka
