Sandras Phiri bids farewell to Startup Grind Cape Town

Entrepreneur Sandras Phiri has announced that he has stepped down as chapter head of Startup Grind Cape Town.

Guillaume De Smedt, who is the current Startup Grind Global Community VP and who previously ran the Cape Town chapter before Phiri took over in 2017, will resume as chapter head.

Said Phiri (pictured above): “After being with Startup Grind for six years the time has come for me to move on. I’m stepping down as chapter director to focus on my new company StartupCircles.AI,” he told Ventureburn in an email yesterday.

Phiri started out at Startup Grind as director for Lusaka, Zambia after attending Startup Grind Bali, Indonesia.

Sandras Phiri said he is stepping down as head of Startup Grind Cape Town to focus on his new company StartupCircles.AI

“I went ahead and ran the Joburg chapter for a few months and then took over Cape Town from the legendary G. It’s been an amazing journey.

“I spoke at the Startup Grind global conference with amazing founders from such companies as Facebook, YouTube, Asana, Box and I have hosted SG events in South Africa, Zambia, Ghana and Rwanda and have met people from all around the world,” he said.

He thanked the public for supporting Startup Grind Cape Town. “I’m glad that you made it possible for us to host 50% women founders and 50% black founders for two years in a row and our efforts were recognised with the best diversity and inclusion awards in the world,” he said.

Added Phiri:  “My mission is to help entrepreneurs to launch and grow their businesses so, I’ll always be in the entrepreneurial space.

“I received investment for StartupCircles.AI and hence my stepping down from Startup Grind to focus 100% on my new startup.

“StartupCircles.AI is Africa’s number one online accelerator and startup school. We have members from all across the African continent and mentors and investors from around the world,” he said.

Featured image: Former chapter head of Startup Grind Cape Town (Facebook)