The SABTIA Africa Tech Conference, in partnership with the City of Eukurhuleni and Monash SA, has kicked off with Minister Lindiwe Zulu addressing key priorities for re-energising business incubation programmes in South Africa.

[City of Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, September 25] International industry experts are in attendance at the First Africa Tech Conference, hosted by the Southern Africa Business and Technology Incubation Association (SABTIA) in partnership with the City of Ekurhuleni and Monash SA.  The two-day conference, held at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg, is focusing on innovation in business incubation and acceleration, repositioning the sector to prepare and sustain the entrepreneurship ecosystem for the future.   

Speaking at the event, Minister Lindiwe Zulu, highlighted the critical need to reduce the crippling effects of government bureaucracy on small business growth.    “Africa is no longer playing catch up with the rest of the world, we are competing with it.  And we are competing in a digital economy with a rate of change faster than the world has seen for the last 300 years.  Through SEDA and initiatives like the SABTIA Tech Conference, we can unlock the economic potential of South African Entrepreneurs, enabling them to access high quality and innovative business support.  We also have to ensure that we are driven by local realities and ensure that our support mechanisms are relevant to the South African realities of rural and township economies.” 

Other key debates coming out of the conference include: The launch of the South Africa Business Incubation Conference in November. Integrating the new skills sets, required for Industry 4.0 and the knowledge era, into our education institutions. Ensuring the implementation of cross-departmental (transversal) agreements inside Government (i.e agreements between DSB and DST) which will support inclusive innovation and development. How to localise critical global content and best practice.

Tiro Matjiu, Founder of Uhuru shop and accelerator platform Uhuru Group, explains the biggest challenge in his sector as market access.  “Marketing in an economic downturn is tough, even more so when your industry requires a shift in consumer mindset.  Buying local is at the core of Uhuru’s SMME clients and without bold and innovative marketing strategies we will fall behind.  Industry 4.0 is a huge opportunity for growth – but it requires knowledge, mentorship and training.”   “Incubators, traditionally designed as support systems, are developing into growth acceleration mechanisms, critical to the improvement of the SMME success rate.  SABTIA aims to build a more inclusive incubation and acceleration system which will better serve small businesses and start-ups, including those in the informal sector – a sector that has largely been ignored by incubation programmes in the past,” says SABTIA Chairperson, Zaid Mohidin. 

Southern Africa Business and Technology Incubation Association (SABTIA) is an independent and private association formed to promote and coordinate business incubation in Southern Africa. SABTIA was set up to serve as the industry standard practitioner and members association, by providing the dissemination of knowledge, skills, training and expertise to the ecosystem nationally, continentally and internationally through partnerships with SEDA, DSBN, EBN as well as INBIA. 

With the industry entering a new cycle we see more and more countries not only consolidating their ecosystems but more importantly also ensuring that appropriate local models are developed in alignment with global standards. The push to cross-pollinate and to collaborate to develop effective ecosystems – with best practices and standards – is fast becoming a priority. SABTIA has been reformed to address this priority. 

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MathsGenius Leadership Institute (MGLI), a quantitative leadership startup based in Johannesburg, South Africa has launched an audacious program entitled "The Mothers for STEM Initiative".This initiative seeks to empower 150 women with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) tutoring businesses by the end of 2017.  

South African learners perennially do badly in maths and science subjects compared to their peers in other countries as shown by the low ranking in both the TIMSS and WEF reports on educational quality. On this background, MathsGenius a STEM advisory start-up saw it fit to address some of the fundamental problems associated with this failure in STEM.

A study done by MGLI in 2014 showed that the weakest link in the maths and science education learner spectrum were rural and township girls. They are the one who were seen to pose the greatest threat to success of the country in STEM subjects and careers. Upon further analysis a strong correlation between a mother's belief system around maths and science and their daughter's performance was established. 

"The best way to get more girls into STEM is to involve the community especially the mothers", stated Edzai Zvobwo, Chief Genius at MGLI. To put these sentiments into practice, MGLI has embarked on an ambitious project to provide motivation, training and support to 150 mothers who will become STEM tutoring business owners within their communities.

MGLI is looking for willing partners to come into fray and contribute towards the achievement of this goal. The model will see MGLI setting up an online education ERP system and LMS that will allow continuous monitoring of the entrepreneurs and learners and measuring progress and impact as the project goes on. MGLI will provide the prospective entrepreneurs with a "school-in-a-box" solution that they can simply plug and play to the benefit of learners. 

For information on this initiative you can visit Mothers of STEM  or  send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.