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Top startup events in South Africa, Africa you should know about this week [14/4/2019]
![Featured image: Delegates pictured at the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit 2018 held in Cape Town in November last year.](https://s5.cdn.ventureburn.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/04/aevents-1024x576.jpg)
The biggest tech event set to take place in South Africa and possibly Africa this week is ETHCapeTown — Africa’s first ETHGlobal hackathon which kicks off on Friday (19 April).
For those in Joburg, there is a Startup Grind Johannesburg fireside chat on Tuesday (16 April) with Uprise Africa’s Tabassum Qadir, Infinity Anchor Fund’s Saki Zamxaka and Pytch Ventures Pierre Thiercelin.
Elsewhere on the continent, Oracle strategic business development team lead Sinem Kaya will on Tuesday (16 April) in Nairobi, Kenya make a case for why startups should use Oracle Cloud. This while three hackathons around fintech, agritech and smart cities will take place in Morocco throughout the week.
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
At this AfricArena 2019 launch event, a panel discussion on the next $1-billion for African tech startups will be held with panelists from AfricArena, Wesgro, Silicon Cape and La French Tech.
Date: 15 April, 1.30pm
Location: Invest SA, 46 St George Mall, Cape Town
DeFi Cape Town: Decentralised Financial Inclusion
As part of the upcoming Blockchain Week ZA, MakerDAO, Centrifuge, Linum Labs and The UCT Financial Innovation Lab have joined forces to bring you a DeFi (Decentralised Finance) event in Cape Town.
The focus of the event is on financial inclusion projects relevant to the African region.
Date: 18 April, 3pm to 8pm
Location: John Day Building, Upper Campus, UCT, 21 Chemistry Road, Cape Town
Join Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and over 200 international hackers, developers and some of the leading minds in the blockchain space at Africa’s first ETHGlobal hackathon.
Date: 19 to 21 April
Location: The Lookout Waterfront, Granger Bay Blvd, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
Johannesburg
Network, relax, shop, drink and enjoy good food all while being serenaded by music at Startup Picnic Soweto. Founded in 2014, Startup Picnic is attended by business people, entrepreneurs, investors, as well as by representatives of incubators and accelerators.
Date: 14 April, 10am
Location: The Lookout Waterfront, Granger Bay Blvd, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
Very Young Entrepreneur Education & Acceleration Summit
Curious about how African schools and universities are tackling education around entrepreneurship, or interested to know how the continent is celebrating and supporting young entrepreneurs?
This summit is an initiative of the Anzisha Prize in partnership with the African Leadership Academy and Mastercard Foundation and is aimed at educators, investors, entrepreneurs, corporates and policymakers from across the continent.
Date: 15 April, 8.30am to 4pm
Location: Hilton Hotel, Sandton, Johannesburg
Get inside the heads of funders at this Startup Grind Johannesburg event and learn how they make strategic funding decisions and determine desired outcomes, what they really want from their startups, and how you can more successfully position your organisation for funding.
Date: 16 April, 6pm to 8pm
Location: Impello Coworking Space, 139 Greenway Avenue, Greenside, Johannesburg
Kenya
Join Oracle strategic business development team lead Sinem Kaya as she discusses how startups shine on Oracle Cloud.
Date: 16 April, 5pm to 8pm
Location: iHub, Nairobi
Morocco
Credit Agricole Agritech hackathon
This 56-hour marathon hackathon is focused on action and collaborative innovation. Innovators in the agritech sector will collaborate with other entrepreneurs for a shot at a cash prize and an opportunity to attend VicaTech 2019.
Date: 16 to 18 April
Location: SIAM – International Exhibition of Agriculture in Morocco, Meknes, Fes-Meknes
Credit Agricole Fintech Hackathon
Fintech innovators will collaborate to come up with innovative solutions and possible new startups at this 56-hour marathon hackathon.
Date: 18 to 20 April
Location: SIAM – International Exhibition of Agriculture in Morocco, Meknes, Fes-Meknes
SmartCity Hackathon Casablanca 2019
The Smart City Hackathon 2019 aims to promote and experiment the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in Casablanca to improve the quality of life for citizens and visitors.
Date: 20 to 21 April
Location: Factory By ScreenDy, 8th floor of the Technopark, Casablanca
Namibia
DoBox Pitch Night is an open pitching event aimed at startups, with the winner getting the bounty from a crowdfunding jar.
Date: 17 April, 6.30pm to 8.30pm
Location: Dololo DoBox, 118 Robert Mugabe Avenue, Windhoek
Featured image: Delegates pictured at the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit 2018 held in Cape Town in November last year.