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In addition to periodic ‘deal pitching’ sessions, AngelHub is launching a monthly high-touch networking platform by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs in 2012. The events are targeted at getting founders (and prospective founders) of interesting high-growth ventures together for meaningful conversations on shared experiences.
Rather than a traditional networking event where one needs to delicately balance a drink and cocktail snacks in one hand while exchanging awkward handshakes and business cards with the other, Founders Dinners will take the form of, well… a casual dinner.
One experienced guest entrepreneur will join representatives of the AngelHub team, and then 10 seats are open around the table for other entrepreneurs to join in. These events will alternate between Johannesburg and Cape Town.
First Founders’ Dinner: Thursday 2nd February
Location: Johannesburg at SLOW in the City, Sandton (corner West and Rivonia, opposite Gautrain station.)
Guest entrepreneur: Richard Dewing – founder and CEO of business data backup software
Company: Cibecs (Pty) Ltd.
To book a seat at this dinner table and/or for more info please email: RSVP-at-angelhub.co.za.
When you do, please include a short paragraph telling us a bit about you as an entrepreneur. AngelHub is a Business Angel Investment Group that pools funding, expertise & networks from a diverse range of early-stage Angel Investors for investment in high-growth South African ventures to accelerate growth & create value.
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Silicon Cape has just launched VC office hours, where you as a start-up entrepreneurs can sit for 30 minutes with a VC and bounce ideas off them, discuss your project etc. I suspect #Johannesburg is going to loose the battle to be the technology hub of South Africa, unless similar projects are done soon here.
As part of Silicon Cape Initiatives’s goal of creating more and better start-ups we would like to announce a new monthly initiative: VC Office Hours. This is great opportunity for you to ask an investor specific questions about the funding process, how to apply for funding, or about a specific aspect of your business. This is so that when you do apply for funding your chances of getting a “YES” are more than one in a hundred.
We have a great line up of investment professionals who have generously volunteered their time to assist the Silicon Cape community. Even if some of them have said no to you in the past, they are here to answer your questions, so please treat them nicely.
The format of the sessions will be that 6 start-up teams will get a 30 min question slot on the first Friday of each month with a funder. Sign-up will be via the Links below on this page and once you have signed up you will get a confirmation email of the meeting time, venue and details of who you will be meeting with.
Please read the house rules before you apply as we will be strict to ensure that everyone gets a chance and our investors agree to participate again. Once you have signed up you will get a confirmation email of the meeting time, venue and details of who you will be meeting.
Spaces are limited and sessions will be filled on a first come, first served basis. Please read the house rules before you apply as we will be strict to ensure that everyone gets a chance and our investors agree to participate again.
House Rules:
1. Strictly no NDAs will be signed by any of the funds or in the advisor’s personal capacity. It is up to you to keep your IP confidential if it is not protected. If you are considering talking to an investor you should be able to describe the project in sufficient detail without disclosing your IP until detailed investigation.
2. This is not a pitching session and is not a formal application for funding, but rather an opportunity for you to get some valuable insight into what funders look for, what they would require or how you could improve a specific aspect of your business to increase your chances for funding.
3. Meetings will be kept strictly to 30min. If you are late, you miss out.
4. Keep it simple – you only have 30min which includes any set up time if you want to do a presentation. The suggested format is that you present and discuss one or two aspects of your business with the advisor.
5. Sign-up will be on a first come, first served basis and will be limit to one session for each start-up, every 2 months depending on demand.
6. If you participate in the session, please provide feedback (to VChrs[at]siliconcape.com) from your session so we can continue to provide a useful service to other entrepreneurs.
2012 Schedule (subject to change):
- Friday, 3 February 2012 with Andrea Bohmert (RSVP & Submit form by 5pm Monday, 30 January 2012)
- Friday, 2 March 2012 with 4Di Capital (RSVP & Submit form by 5pm Monday, 27 February 2012)
- Thursday, 5 April 2012 with Angel Hub (RSVP & Submit form by 5pm Monday, 2 April 2012)
- Friday, 4 May 2012 with Hasso Plattner Ventures Africa (RSVP & Submit form by 5pm Monday, 30 April 2012)
- Friday, 1 June 2012 with Powered by VC (RSVP & Submit form by 5pm Monday, 28 May 2012)
- Friday, 3 August 2012 with 4Di Capital (RSVP & Submit form by 5pm Monday, 30 July 2012)
- Friday, 7 September 2012 with Andrea Bohmert (RSVP & Submit form by 5pm Monday, 3 September 2012)
- Friday, 5 October 2012 with Angel Hub (RSVP & Submit form by 5pm Monday, 1 October 2012)
- Friday, 2 November 2012 with Invenfin (RSVP & Submit form by 5pm Monday, 30 Jan 2012)
Time slots are:
9:00 – 9:30am
9:30 – 10:00am
10:00 – 10:30am
10:15 – 10:45am
10:45 – 11:15am
11:15 – 11:45am
11:45- 12:15pm
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The Gauteng Innovation Competition is an initiative of the Gauteng Department of Economic Development, through its agency BlueIQ and implemented under The Innovation Hub. The Innovation Hub has partnered with mLab Southern Africa for the inaugural competition. Entries are invited that include innovative technologies and solutions, or novel business and implementation models in the two themes of mobile and green technologies.
Rather than simply rewarding innovation that contributes to government service delivery with a focus on Gauteng Province, the competition is aimed at growing enterprises in the mobile ecosystem and green economy. The competition has prize money totalling R1 million, which includes an initial cash award, but the bulk of the prizes are given in seed grants that give the entrepreneurs the freedom they need to build their enterprises.
Competition Dates
Competition launch: 15 December 2011
Closing date for entries: 24 February 2012
Winners announced: 8 March 2012
The Themes
Government Innovation
The Gauteng province recognises that innovation drives social and economic development. The competition is therefore a platform to enhance local government service delivery in Gauteng through innovation. It invites fresh concepts from the citizens of the province, and creates a link between the innovators and government in Gauteng so that not only will the new ideas be showcased, but it could also give the innovators their first customer.
Mobile Service Delivery
Do you have a new idea to improve access to government services, or improve the efficiency of the transport, health or education system using mobile phones?
The mobile theme of the competition calls on innovators and entrepreneurs in Gauteng to propose novel solutions to enhance local government service delivery using mobile technologies.
Green Service Delivery
Can you come up with solutions to reduce the province’s impact on the environment?
The green technology theme of the competition is looking for innovations that will either make local government greener in its own operations, enable its citizens to make more responsible, efficient, or clean use of the services supplied by local government.
Apply at: http://gautenginnovation.co.za/
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The African Media Initiative (AMI), the continent’s largest association of media owners and operators, has announced a $1 million fund to spur innovation in the news industry.
The new African News Innovation Challenge (ANIC) is designed to encourage experimentation in digital technologies and support the best innovations that strengthen African news organizations.
AMI chief executive Amadou Mahtar Ba first announced the fund at the 4th African Media Leaders Forum in Tunisia on November 10. This week, Ba confirmed that Omidyar Network, Google, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, and the U.S. Department of State have all pledged either funding or technical support for the initiative.
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers has also committed expert business mentorship and marketing support for ANIC winners.
“Traditional media are still growing in Africa, but media organizations know that they need to go digital and mobile to prepare for the future. Many, however, don’t have the resources to experiment or take risks, especially in this economic climate,” said Ba. “This competition is our way of saying: ‘We’re here to help. If you come up with an innovative idea to improve the African media landscape, we’ll help make it happen.’”
Winners in the annual contest will get seed grants ranging from $12,500 to a maximum of $100,000 for more ambitious projects. To build robust business models, the grantees will also receive technical advice and start-up support, as well as one-on-one mentoring from some of the world’s leading media experts.
“We’re trying to nurture a culture of innovation in African media,” said AMI’s digital strategist and ANIC project manager Justin Arenstein. “We want the winners to get their products to the market quickly, and we want to remove as much risk as possible. These pioneers will have access to experts that most media simply do not have.”
Arenstein is working with AMI as part of a Knight International Journalism Fellowship administered by theInternational Center for Journalists (ICFJ), with funds from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The contest will target solutions to technology challenges facing African media, including ways to strengthen data-based investigative journalism, audience engagement, mobile news distribution, data visualization, revenue streams and workflow systems.
“We’re casting the net as wide as possible,” said Arenstein. “As long as the solution is scalable and appropriate to local market conditions, we’re happy to consider it.”
The competition is modeled after Knight Foundation’s highly successful Knight News Challenge, which has seeded news media innovation across the globe over the past five years. “We will work closely with Knight Foundation to incorporate the best practices and technology for a digital news contest designed to solve problems and stimulate new thinking,” said Joyce Barnathan, president of the International Center for Journalists.
AMI will launch the contest website in December 2011. In the first phase, African journalists and publishers will be asked to identify the most pressing challenges facing the industry. Once these have been identified, AMI will issue a call for applications targeting these issues in February 2012.
Winners will be chosen through a rigorous two-phase judging process, consisting of public voting and a review of finalists by a panel of experts. The top contenders will receive a combination of cash and technical support.
Winners will then test their innovations in AMI member-newsrooms and showcase projects at international media gatherings.
The African innovation contest is part of AMI’s broader initiative to build digital entrepreneurship within traditional media. AMI is also supporting a new network of HacksHackers.com chapters across Africa that will bring technologists together with journalists to help pilot projects in digital media. The chapters will run workshops and help incubate ideas for the African News Innovation Challenge.
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All Amber Ltd, the organiser of premier mobile-related events in Africa, today announced plans for its third annual Mobile Web in Africa conference. The series of events, which will take place in the week of 21st November 2011, will cater to the entire range of individuals involved in the African mobile sector.
The events include the end of year Mobile Monday Jo’burg celebration, a day dedicated entirely to Mobile Marketing and the flagship two-day Mobile Web in Africa conference and culminate in a workshop day led by international experts Tomi Ahonen and Marc Smith. The ambitious plans are designed to build on the successes of the past two years, during which the main Mobile Web in Africa conference has clearly established itself as the market-leading event of its type across Africa.
With the South African events calendar becoming more and more saturated since the inaugural Mobile Web in Africa event was held in October 2009, this year’s Mobile Web in Africa is set to again raise the benchmark. International, continental and local speakers will be integrated into the unique All Amber business-focused, interactive environment and offer a comprehensive dissection of key mobile web and mobile application topics.
All Amber Managing Director Matthew Dawes commented: “After the feedback we’ve had in 2009 and 2010 we really wanted to step everything up for this year’s conference. By joining forces with Mobile Monday Jo’burg we are able to offer a complete range of day and evening activities. Plus, we’ve got Tomi Ahonen coming in from Hong Kong – he’s a global mobile superstar. We want to make this year a weeklong carnival – where regardless of expertise, budget or focus something is available for everyone. Even before we’ve officially launched the event interest has been extremely high. My message to anyone interested is simple: get in touch and let’s organise how you can get involved.”
The full structure of the weeklong “Festival of Mobile” is:
- Monday 21st November – Mobile Monday Jo’burg End of Year Celebration
- Tuesday 22nd November – “This is Mobile Marketing” Focus Day
- Wednesday 23rd November – First Day of Mobile Web in Africa 2011 Main Conference
- Thursday 24th November – Second Day of Mobile Web in Africa 2011 Main Conference
- Friday 25th November – Tomi Ahonen and Dr. Marc Smith Workshops
For further details please contact: Andrew Mowbray, Communications Director, All Amber: comms at allamber.co.uk or visit the website
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Quick update on Mobiflock, the parental control service for smartphones have been named one of the 10 most promising mobile startups by GigaOM, the technology news, research and events company. Mobiflock’s parental control app will be presented at Mobilize 2011, GigaOM’s mobile web conference, in San Francisco later this year. They also recently launched an application for Android handsets, meaning our service now covers 60% of the smartphone market.
“Dozens of forward-thinking young mobile startups applied to Mobilize 2011 LaunchPad, but these 10 companies stood out for their innovative technologies, executable ideas, and strong business models,” said Kevin Tofel, Mobile Editor at GigaOM and chair of Mobilize 2011.
Mobiflock has been specifically designed for the mobile environment and its particular challenges. Some of the existing dangers children might encounter, including bullying, accessing inappropriate content and sexual grooming, have spread to the online mobile environment. In addition, newer risks to children are emerging thanks to the popularity of the mobile phone, such as sexting, mobile chat or being online late into the night. What’s more, a mobile phone is a very personal device and is often carried by the child 24/7 – further exacerbating the impact and potential of these threats.
We wish Vanessa and the team all the best 
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We have been iphone / mobile compatible for a while, however we have just enabled an IPAD specific theme. Just visit www.startupafrica.com with your IPAD and the theme will be automatically applied. Check below for screenshots:
In addition, we will be transitioning to Facebook comments, to reduce the amount of spam and encourage people to use real identities.
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I have just received a request from SABC 3, they are currently looking for young people between the ages of 16 and 22 for the latest reality TV show that is aimed at inspiring young South Africans to achieve.
The show is called “Made In SA” and candidates will be mentored and asked to complete challenges. If you know about anyone that meets the criteria, ask them to apply.
Applicants should be:
- Between the ages of 16 – 22 years old
- Have exceptional talent in a specific career
- Or have an entrepreneurial flair
- Be able to prove that they have done something to get closer to their dream
Write to us and tell us all about your dream career and what you have already done to make your dream happen!
Successful candidates will be placed with a mentor and receive challenges in a reality style TV show.
If you have what it takes then we want to hear from you!!!
How to enter
- Briefly tell us what your dream career is and motivate what you have done to get closer to your dream. To be eligible, you must have done something already.
- You are welcome to include pictures
- Don’t forget to include your name, contact number and address so that we know how to get hold of you
- Send your entries to (madeinsa – at – sabc.co.za) or Mail it to Made in SA, P.O. Box 521, Saxonwold, 2132. Or simply send a fax to: 086 502 8610
Terms and Conditions
- You have to be a South African between the ages of 16 – 22 to enter
- All entries will be verified and any false or incorrect information will be disqualified
- All entries must reach us by Friday, 5 August 2011
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I had an online interview with Obinna Ekezie, founder and CEO of Wakanow.com for StartupAfrica.com. Wakanow is the premier online travel booking service in Africa, offering a safe and secure way to book travel arrangements – including flights, cheap hotels and airport pickups! Research, plan and purchase your dream vacation with Wakanow.
Tell us your start-up story? Why Wakanow.com?
There was a gap in market. I found out there was no real-time, hassle-free online travel company in Africa where I could get the best travel deal or cheap flights. A few years ago I returned to Nigeria to visit and I had difficulty booking my flight. Next time I got stuck at the airport going from Lagos to Moscow because I needed a transit visa through Frankfurt which I did not have and I could not buy airline tickets at the airport. Although I met my wife the next day while buying a new Turkish Airline ticket, I did not find this funny. This is when I realized that there was no online travel company in Nigeria so I said we must do this.
What is your definition of success, and has your company achieved it?
I believe there are few opportunities in life that come ones way. This is a big one and I recognized it from the start. When I was injured in 2005, I started thinking about life after basketball. I was introduced to online travel through a former friend but our venture was not successful and I pretty much lost quite a lot of money but I never gave up. We do not have the competition like the U.S or other developed markets. We are actually pioneers in this extremely challenging market. With the success we are having in Nigeria, we have the opportunity to expand to other African markets quickly. People close to me know that motivation has never been an issue for me for anything that I am passionate about. I want to be successful and I want to make a difference. We are radically changing the way travel is planned and booked in Nigeria and I am happy about that.
Take us through your typical day?
My day always starts well, that’s very important to make good decisions. The challenges will always come forward and dealing with them is part of the business process and success. We are online which means we can’t afford interruptions or go wrong, the smallest mistake could be costly- every second and every minute counts in this business. I am on my feet pretty much every second of the day willing to answer calls, listen to feedback and deliberate on decisions at any point of the day, this is serious business.
How do you balance social & work life?
My family means a lot to me and so does the business. I love being around my family and my adorable wife, so business and social life have their time and space and I make sure one doesn’t interrupt the other. I gym and rest when I should and when I am at work, it’s strictly business. Wherever you are, the business and family will always be on your mind.
Where do you see yourself and your business in 5 years?
I’d like Wakanow.com to become the biggest online travel agency in Africa in the next 5 years occupying a huge market share in travel worldwide.
What’s the toughest feedback you’ve ever received and how did you learn from it?
That what we were trying to do was not feasible in Nigeria. The business terrain, the lack of enthusiastic investors, cost of power and so many obstacles that could make any other company shy of the opportunities that stare in your face. However, success has come our way this far because of the courage to continue believing in our purpose and goals.
What inspires you to go to work every morning?
I am completely passionate about Wakanow.com. I think about my company and the travel business 24/7. I also want to be renowned as a very successful business man while radically changing the way travel is planned and booked in Nigeria and I am happy about that.
What African Company do you admire the most? (Besides yours)
My father’s company is the most admirable I have seen. My dad is a successful businessman and I learned a lot from him. I admire him because how he built arguably the best Nigerian owned oil service company in the country.
Can you give StartupAfrica.com readers 5 tips of advice with regards to Entrepreneurship?
I have got a whole list but the most outstanding are:
- Follow your heart
- Read & research about your field, business and everything, it always comes in handy
- Get a mentor
- Work hard
- Create, Collaborate and Launch Out!
All the best brother, goodluck! Make us Africans proud!
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Social networks generally bring the idea of making friends to people’s minds, but that trend has rapidly evolved. Businesses are beginning to use this for marketing and engaging their customers to help build a better brand image and professionals have taken this up to collaborate with others across borders. There is no end to possibilities on the web and it has made things a lot more efficient, at least in terms of communications.
One such startup is Ziliot, a Business to Business social network that helps connect SMEs, government and professional authorities of countries better connect with each other. The link is primarily between the developing and the developed states to help streamline interaction between organizations in the mentioned countries.
Lets think of it for a moment, if a country in Europe plans to make in investment in an under developed country in Asia or Africa, it would find it easier to get up-to-date information from recognized authorities, primarily the government bodies and professional networks. Also Ziliot is running a survey project to discover the small businesses in Africa who need a bridge to connect them to the various distributorship opportunities, franchises and partnerships which companies in developed countries need trusted an verifiable contacts to handle. The survey is available online here http://bit.ly/B2Bmarketplaceto
This is owing to the fact the connectivity may be a major hurdle to collaborate directly on a minuscule level and is often time consuming with results being more or less in accurate. With Ziliot such businesses and organizations can connect with similar ones in different regions to enhance business productivity.
“Where other networks can’t get contacts of organizations deep down African, Asian, Middle eastern communities and regions, we provide those contacts and the possibility for SME’s to follow them and interact. SME’s get to connect with relevant government agencies and ask questions.”
“Supposing you want to ask, ‘How do I verify that these company is not fraud? ‘ – You ask the question direct to the government agency you have followed and they will chat back with you. We believe that this will lead to a process where they check their databases on your behalf and advice you accordingly. You can get to find out about SME’s funding possibilities and supports available, tenders etc.” says Co-Founder, Aniekan Okono.
So in short its open for anyone to take advantage of, amalgamating the clusters of cluster under one network that is readily accessible. If you talk about Ziliot, is it best to describe it as a much needed platform for effective interaction? Or is it just another social network?
The team behind Ziliot is a well knit unit of cultures itself with members coming from Africa, Asia and Europe, making it as culturally diverse as its functioning.
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