Capetonians get ready. Summer is almost upon us — and Cape Town Startup Week (CTSUW) is just days away.
The initiative, primarily by Heavy Chef and Workshop17, with help from The Waterfront and Wesgro and with involvement from Startup Grind Cape Town and Silicon Cape, kicks off next Tuesday (3 December) and runs until next Thursday (5 December).
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So far 16 events have been confirmed, including workshops and talks. A highlight includes a talk next Wednesday (4 December) by Mama Money founders Mathieu Coquillon and Raphael Grojnowski.
While the week will have a heavy focus on tech startups, CTSUW organiser, Fred Roed told Ventureburn in an email that any small business owner can benefit from attending one or more of the events.
The idea for Cape Town Startup Week is celebratory, to shine a light on the good – and sometimes bad – stuff that’s happening in the Cape tech sector
“Our view is that every business is a tech business nowadays, just on varying levels,” adds Roed.
He added that the week would focus on small businesses and innovation in every sector, and pointed out that tech is an accelerator “whether you’re in fintech or you’re a yoga practice”.
Roed, who is also the founder of entrepreneurship events company Heavy Chef, says the idea for the week stemmed from a conversation he had late last year between Kerry Petrie from Silicon Cape and Sandras Phiri from Startup Grind.
The three ended up putting together the first Cape Town Startup Week in just three weeks. “This year we gave ourselves six weeks, so we’ve doubled our lead time,” he added.
Says Roed: “The idea is celebratory, shine a light on the good (and sometimes bad) stuff that’s happening in the Cape tech sector over the past year — as well as prepping for the future, and opening eyes to what opportunities are available for the next year.”
Featured image: Table Bay, Cape Town (jeanvdmeulen via Pixabay)
