Top startup events in South Africa, Africa you should know about this week [17/2/2019]

On Wednesday (20 February), Heavy Chef will host an event at Workshop 17 on how businesses can kick start their brand awareness and amplify their customer acquisition strategy. A similar event will also be held in Joburg on Tuesday (19 February).

Two events of note take place in Johannesburg this week.

The first is the Africa Energy Indaba on Tuesday and Wednesday (19 and 20 February) in Sandton.

Looking to scale your business? Then you’ll want to check out The Business Show on Wednesday and Thursday (20 and 21 February) at the Gallagher Convention Centre.

In Cairo, the first heat of The Mena Startup Challenge takes place tomorrow (18 February).

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

Facebook for business

Two senior members of startup Getsmarter’s social media team, Junaid Sabera and Meggan Kristiansen, along with Facebook’s Noha Bashir, will discuss how businesses can kickstart their brand awareness and amplify their customer acquisition strategy.

Date: 20 February, 12pm to 3pm
Location: Workshop 17, 17 Dock Road, Cape Town

Lean Coffee

For those that work 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: 20 February, 8.30am to 9.30am
Location: 1 Somerset Road, Green Point, Cape Town

How to build relevant businesses in today’s digital world

Join authors Brad Shorkend and Andy Golding as they celebrate the launch of their book We Are Still Human (and work shouldn’t suck!).

During the launch, the two will discuss how to build relevant businesses and exceptional work experiences for human beings in a world that has gone digital crazy.

Date: 20 February, 6pm to 8pm
Location: 5th Floor, Bandwith Barn, Block B, Woodstock Exchange, 66 Albert Road, Woodstock, Cape Town

Conversations On Creativity: Monetising your platform

Join this event for a conversation on how creatives and entrepreneurs in South Africa are building and creating revenue streams for their platforms from physical spaces to digital, print and multimedia.

Date: 23 February, 12pm to 3pm
Location: 16 Spin Street, Cape Town

Durban

AeroCon 2019 Durban

Aerocon is the place to be if you want to enter the drone industry in South Africa as a pilot or a service provider.

You will walk away from the event knowing exactly what it entails, and what it will cost to become a legally compliant drone pilot in South Africa.

Date: 21 February, 11am to 3pm
Location: Northwood Crusaders Sports Club, 10 Ranleigh Crescent, Durban

Johannesburg

Future proofing your business with Facebook

Heavy Chef hosts Facebook’s lead trainer Noha Bashir, who will lift the lid on some of the most important developments in the Facebook advertising platform. Bashir will also share insights on how businesses can kickstart their brand awareness and amplify their customer acquisition strategy.

Also attendance will bt Yashoda Ram and Marnus van Heerden two members of insurtech startup Pineapple.

Date: 19 February, 6pm to 8.3opm
Location: Workshop 17, 138 West Street Sandton

Africa Energy Indaba

The Africa Energy Indaba focuses on topics like alternative and renewable energies, oil and gas, as well as investment opportunities in African energy projects.

Look out for side events that include the World Energy Council Africa regional meeting, the Africa’s Youth Energy Innovator award, the Independent Power Producers and Power Purchase Agreements Conference, Africa Gas Forum and the Women In Energy Conference

Date: 19 and 20 February
Location: Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa

The Business Show

This two-day showcase bill itself as Africa’s leading event for anyone starting out or building a bigger business. Be inspired by thought leaders, business professionals and leading industry experts.

Date: 20 and 21 February, 8.30am to 4.30pm
Location: Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa

Port Elizabeth

AeroCon 2019 Port Elizabeth

Aerocon is the place to be if you want to enter the drone industry in South Africa as a pilot or a service provider.

You will walk away from the event knowing exactly what it entails, and what it will cost to become a legally compliant drone pilot in South Africa.

Date: 20 February, 11am to 3pm
Location: Old Grey Club, 2 Lenox Street, Port Elizabeth

Egypt

The Mena Startup Challenge

Join Unbound and Flat6Labs at The Greek Campus for the first heat of The MENA Startup Challenge, a series of events across the Middle East and North Africa to find the region’s leading startups.

Each heat will put a number of the region’s leading startups head-to-head as they pitch their business to an audience and panel of expert judges.

Date: 18 February, 5.30pm to 8.30pm
Location: The Greek Campus, 171 Tahrir St, Bab El Louk Ad Dawawin Abdeen, Cairo

Ghana

Accounting and financing for startups

It’s a Breeze CEO March Johnson will discuss the essentials of accounting and finance when starting and running a company, at this Startup Grind Accra event.

Date: 23 February, 9am to 12.15pm
Location: Ispace Foundation, No 14 Otu Adzin Rd, Spintex, Accra

Ivory Coast

VivaTech Tour in Abidjan

VivaTech representatives will meet innovative startups based in Ivory Coast. During the event, feedback on VivaTech’s past editions will also take place and the role of incubators like Orange Fab will be discussed.

Date: 18 February, 6.30m to 9pm
Location: Orange Fab, Abidjan

Kenya

Africa BFSI Innovation Summit

The Africa BFSI Innovation Summit 2019 will bring together some of the top CIOs, CISOs, CTOs, as well as heads of IT, ICT, risk, compliance, retail banking, customer experience, analytics from banks, micro-finance, credit unions and insurance companies across East Africa.

Date: 19 and 20 February, 9am to 5pm
Location: Mövenpick Hotel & Residences Nairobi, Mkungu Close, Nairobi

Pitching to Investors (workshop and competition)

Are you an entrepreneur eager to learn how to pitch to investors? Join Sinapis at its Pitching to Investor’s workshop and pitch competition.

Date: 23 February, 1pm to 5pm
Location: Luther Plaza, Ground Floor, Nyerere Road (Opposite St Paul’s), Nairobi

Nigeria

Startup Cocktail

Startup Cocktail is a monthly meet and greet event designed to bridge the gap between Entrepreneurs, industry leads and potential investors.

Date: 19 February, 2pm to 4pm
Location: Edo Innovates (Edo Innovation Hub), I.C.E Road, Off Wire Road, Benin City

Raising capital for your startup business (masterclass)

This is the fourth masterclass in the Make-IT in Africa masterclass series for entrepreneurs in Nigeria, implemented by the German Development Co-operation in collaboration with V8 Academy.

Date: 20 February, 3.30pm to 7pm
Location: V8 Valley, Workspace 7b, Dr S.Ezekuse Close, Lagos

WennoChat February Edition Ibadan

WennoChat is a monthly engagement platform that brings together entrepreneurs, business executives, developers and other stakeholders to learn, network, share key issues affecting tech innovation in Nigeria. This month’s focus is on applying for business funding.

Date: 22 February, 3pm to 5pm
Location: Wennovation Hub, 3rd Floor Alpha and Omega Building Queen Elizabeth II Road Mokola, Ibadan

Solutions Hangout

Solutions Hangout is a monthly business session that focuses on capacity development and growth for entrepreneurs whose businesses are less than 10 years old. This week’s topics are on increasing sales and attracting the right opportunities in a business.

Date: 23 February, 3pm to 6pm
Location: 25, Maye Street, Off Montgomery Road, Yaba, Lagos.

Startup Grind Uyo hosts WeddingPlus Nigeria founder Isaac Mefo

For its first event of the year, Startup Grind Uyo will host WeddingPlus Nigeria founder and CEO Isaac Mefo.

Date: 23 February, 10m to 1pm
Location: Start Innovation Hub, Ibom e-Library Complex, IBB Avenue, Uyo

Togo

Fintech with Semoa CEO Edem Adjamagbo

Semoa Group CEO and founder Edem Adjamagbo will chat about fintech and share his experience in the industry at this Startup Grind Lome event.

Date: 19 February, 6pm to 9pm
Location: Woelab, 209 Klala Street, Lakaza Klikame, Bè-Klikamé, Lomé

Zambia

I Blew It: Corpus Legal Practitioners founder Elias Chipimo

I Blew It nights are events where stories of failed businesses and projects are told, questioned and celebrated.

Each event sees an entrepreneur talk about how they blew it, their biggest mistakes, as well as what they learned, all while sharing their invaluable advice along the way.

This week’s guest is Corpus Legal Practitioners founder Elias Chipimo.

Date: 21 February, 6pm to 8pm
Location: BongoHive, Thabo Mbeki Road, Lusaka

Women in tech: Changing narratives, changing history

This event aims to highlight the women that are making a difference in the Zambian tech sector, as well as share their informed thoughts on where IT is heading in Zambia.

Date: 23 February, 9am to 12.45pm
Location: Global Platform Zambia, Lusaka

Featured image: Startup Grind Johannesburg via Facebook

Editor’s note (18 February 2018): The events listing has been updated to include two additional speakers from insurtech Pineapple who will be attending Heavy Chef’s Future proofing your business with Facebook event on Tuesday (19 February) in Johannesburg.