The biggest startup events taking place on the continent this week are in West Africa.
The first is the Lagos Startup Week which since 2015 has brought together the ecosystem of technology agents driving business innovation. Organisers expect over 5000 attendees will attend this year’s edition which takes kicks off today (24 September) and ends on Sunday (30 September).
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The Ghana STEM Conference, the flagship event of Africa Science Week, is a full-day event incorporating keynote addresses, panel discussions and exhibition opportunities for several businesses under the theme “Accelerating Growth and Development through STEM”. The conference takes place this Friday (28 September).
In South Africa the Africa Investor Summit that takes on Wednesday (26 September) in Joburg will provide the investor community with insights on trends, opportunities and other developments in the African market.
This article is part of a weekly series that highlights all the top startup events, competitions, networking sessions, workshops and conferences in Africa.
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.
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
MEST Africa: Community Conversations with Ayanda Siboto
MEST’s Community Conversation session this week is with Ayanda Siboto, the marketing manager at the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative.
Siboto is passionate about youth development and is actively engaged in entrepreneurship and admittedly obsessed with the media and communications industry.
Date: 25 September, 5.45pm to 7.30pm
Location: MEST Incubator Cape Town, 401A Woodstock Exchange, 66 Albert Road, Cape Town
Money Mastery with Sandras Phiri
Join Africa Trust Academy CEO and Startup Grind Cape Town director Sandras Phiri for a fun, inspirational and interactive talk that aims to addresses saving, investing, getting out of debt and methods to increase your income.
Date: 25 September, 1pm to 2pm
Location: Work & Co, Floor 11, Touchstone House, 7 Bree Street, Cape Town
Join Nomanini, MFS Africa and Tugende as they convene the second annual African Fintech Unconference.
Date: 25 and 26 September, 9am to 5pm
Location: Spier Wine Farm, near Stellenbosch
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: 26 September, 8.30am to 9.30am
Location: 1 Somerset Road, Green Point, Cape Town
Marketing for startups — by a Pro — on a budget
Join Duo Marketing and Communications founder Judith Middleton in this tips and strategy session on how you can market your startup on a budget.
Date: 26 September, 5.30pm
Location: 25 Wale Street, Cape Town
Join this B2B food event where the startups, food innovators, foodtech businesses, investors and partners who are redefining the food industry from farm-to-fork connect.
Date: 27 to 28 September
Location: Cape Town International Conference Centre
Future Females The Business of Being Me (Workshop)
Join Future Females and Rochelle Jane Coaching in their latest event.
Date: 27 September, 6.30pm to 8.30pm
Location: Workshop 17, V&A Waterfront, 17 Dock Road, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
MEST Africa Soap-Box Sessions with Lebo Miya
Join Lebo Miya, founder and CEO of Mari as he talks about his passion in financial inclusion, diversity in tech and amplifying the Cape Town innovation hub.
Date: 28 September, 4.30pm to 5.30pm
Location: MEST Incubator Cape Town, 401A Woodstock Exchange Building, 66 Albert Road, Cape Town
This conference aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of blockchain technology by focusing on how to address the implementation challenges, make best use of the opportunities and benefit from the innovation and disruption that this technology brings.
Date: 28 September, 9am to 6pm
Location: President Hotel , 4 Alexander Road, Cape Town
Johannesburg
The Africa Investor Summit connects international institutional investors with African private equity and venture capital fund managers.
The summit is designed exclusively for the buy-side private investor community to gather insights on trends, opportunities and other developments in the African market.
Date: 26 September
Location: Johannesburg Stock Exchange, 2 Gwen Ln, Sandown, Sandton
Startup Grind Johannesburg with Marang Marekimane
Join Startup Grind as they uncap lean tools and processes for business efficiency with Marang Marekimane, the founder of Business Process Mechanics.
Date: 26 September, 6pm to 9pm
Location: Impello Coworking Space, 139 Greenway, Randburg
Looking for advice from venture capitalists (VCs)? Then you’ll want to apply to attend this session.
Date: 26 September, 2pm to 3pm
Location: Johannesburg, Cape Town
The J&B Showcase will show off the game-changers that part of the Jozi community.
Date: 27 September, 4pm to 10pm
Location: The J&B Hive, 100 Juta Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
The market must-have knowledge sharing session
Tmara in partnership with SpliceWorks is hosting this knowledge session on marketing.
Date: 27 September, 1.45pm to 3pm
Location: Spliceworks, 1266 South Rd, Centurion
Motivation: Yourself and Others
Future Females explores the issue of motivation — what are motivators, what drives you, how can you influence and motivate yourself, and then, how do you motivate others, your team, your family, even an industry?
Date: 28 September, 6pm to 8.30pm
Location: Workshop 17 Sandton, 138 West Street, Sandton
Ghana
MEST Masterclass on talent management
Join Acumen director for West Africa Meghan Curran as she talks talent management for early-stage companies.
Date: 25 September, 12pm to 2pm
Location: MEST Incubator, 19 Banana Street, East Legon, Accra
MEST Soapbox Session with Africa Foresight Group
Each month MEST invites special guest speakers to share their professional journey and some key insights with its members.
This month’s talk features Zachary Bucheister head of strategic initiatives for Africa Foresight Group. Bucheister has an extensive background in business and economics.
Date: 27 September, 5.30pm to 7pm
Location: MEST Incubator, 19 Banana Street, East Legon, Accra
Ghana STEM Conference (Africa Science Week)
The Ghana STEM Conference is the flagship event of Africa Science Week 2018 in Ghana. It is designed to mobilise the scientific community — researchers, teachers, innovators, students, business leaders, and policy makers — to dialogue, network, and showcase research outputs and innovations coming out of the country.
Date: 28 September, 8am to 6pm
Location: Ghana Academy Of Arts And Sciences, 1 Second Food Research Road, Accra
Ashwin Ravichandran, MEST director of portfolio, will be teaching slide deck creation, while Asoriba co-founder.
This, while Forbes 30 Under 30 Nana Prempeh will teach pitching to partners and the founder of the first African company to go to 500 Startups. Kamil Nabong will cover pitching to investors.
Date: 28 September, 9am to 5pm
Location: MEST Incubator, 19 Banana Street, East Legon, Accra
Kenya
Quarterly, Nairobi AI organises two-hour gatherings for artificial intelligence (AI) practitioners focusing on lessons learned from applying AI.
Each gathering consists of three elements which enable interactive sessions: discovery, sharing and networking.
Date: 27 September, 630pm to 8.30pm
Location: Utu House Lower Kabete Rd, Nairobi
Morocco
Bidaya Incub information session
Bidaya Incub will respond to questions about its incubation programme during this information session.
Date: 27 September, 5.30pm to 7pm
Location: Sillaps, 82 Soumeya Street, Shehrazade 3, ETG 3, Office No. 15, Dar-el-Beida, Casablanca-Settat
Nigeria
The Lagos Startup Week will feature 12 carefully curated tracks to shape a much deeper conversation on how technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) will affect industries, professions and the way we innovate.
Date: 24 to 30 September, 5.30pm to 8pm
Location: Lagos
MEST Africa Information Session
Join the MEST Africa team at the MEST Incubator Lagos as they share their experience working with entrepreneurs from across the continent.
Date: 27 September, 5.30pm to 6.30pm
Location: MEST Incubator Lagos, 19B Adeyemi Lawson Street, Lagos
Solutions Hangout is a monthly business session for entrepreneurs with businesses under 10 years old. Join Courtville Business Solutions group managing director Adebola Akindele and Resource Intermidiaries managing director Olusoji Oyawoye at this week’s hangout.
Date: 29 September, 3pm to 6pm
Location: 25 Maye Street, Off Montgomery Road, Yaba, Lagos
Wennochat September Edition Lagos
Join Netcore Solutions’ Siddhesh Sawant as he discusses the future of artificial intelligence. The session will highlight what AI entails, its use, as well as how entrepreneurs and businesses can tap into this technology.
Date: 28 September, 3pm to 5pm
Location: Wennovation Hub, 11 Rev.Ogunbiyi Street GRA, Ikeja, Lagos
Wennochat September Edition Ibadan
Impressio Africa founder Ayodele Adebayo will speak on how to grow a business with or without grants
Date: 27 September, 3pm to 5pm
Location: 3rd Floor, Alpha & Omega Building, Queen Elizabeth II Road, Mokola-UCH Road, Ibadan
Kick starting the Startup Grind Uyo chapter is a renowned tech entrepreneur and Start Innovation Hub CEO Hanson Johnson. Hanson will share his entrepreneurial journey and advice.
Date: 28 September, 10am to 1pm
Location: Start Innovation Hub, Ibom e-Library Complex , IBB Avenue, Uyo
Startup Grind Jos hosts Sam Semako Jinadu
Startup Grind Jos will this week host Career-Wise Consults principal partner Sam Semako Jinadu.
Date: 29 September, 10am to 1pm
Location: nHub, 3rd Floor, TAEN Business Complex, Opposite former NITEL Office, Yakubu Gowon Way, Jos
Tunisia
AfricArena Tour Tunis Pitch Event
Watch some of Tunisia’s best startups pitch for a chance to attend AfricArena in November in Cape Town. The pitch event will also feature a panel discussion with key figures in the Tunisian ecosystem.
Date: 28 September, 3pm to 8pm
Location: Cogite Coworking Space, 1 Place Tahar Haddad, Les Berges du lac, Tunis
Join this event for training on legal procedures to follow when founding a startup in Tunisia.
Date: 26 September, 5.30pm to 8pm
Location: 111-CoThink, 14 Rue Emir Abdelkader, Mutual City, Tunis
Economic models to chose for your startup
Learn more about the business model canvass and what economic models you should be applying in your startup in this workshop.
Date: 27 September, 5.30pm to 8pm
Location: 111-CoThink, 14 Rue Emir Abdelkader, Mutual City, Tunis
*Correction: We incorrectly had the time for the Cape Town event “Marketing for startups” listed as 12am (as in midnight — wouldn’t that be a first). It is in fact 5.30pm. We regret the error.
Featured image: Startup Grind Cape Town via Facebook
