The true cost of cable theft in South Africa is estimated at R187 billion per year – and this was before COVID-19 which forced the already massive cable theft problem through the roof.

Although South Africa is the world leader in cable theft per capita, other countries also suffer. The USA loses almost $1 Billion per year to cable theft and the UK, Latin America and India experience significant copper theft. Copper supply is down and copper prices are rising – all of which do not bode well for South Africa.

In South Africa only 7% of apprehended copper thieves are convicted because cable ownership has to be proven to establish theft and convict the perpetrator. Unemployment, the improbability of prosecution combined with rising copper prices makes the risk acceptable to thieves.

South Africa will continue to feel the effect of loss because of copper theft – and there is no simple solution to this problem. A South African company has developed a world-leading solution to the copper theft scourge – a solution that is causing excitement in various countries. The company integrates patented South African solutions with options other local companies offer to provide a holistic solution to protect cables from manufacturing to installation and even after it has been stolen.

“African problems are best solved by Africans. This breakthrough solution is a world first and we are excited about the acceptance of the solution in other countries” said the CEO of CableDNA. “This unique approach will monitor cables when installed and destroy the illegal copper resale market when the cables are stolen and are being sold. We are proudly South African and our solution is already causing a stir in countries which suffer from cable theft.”

CableDNA is an electrical cable and asset theft prevention company based in South Africa. www.cabledna.co.za

The Impakt Fund Successfully Launches in Johannesburg, South Africa at the 12J Conference (For release after 31 January 2020) 

Many have an interest in investing in Africa-based businesses that both help the African people and deliver a financial return. The new Impakt Fund is focused on delivering just these kinds of win-win opportunities. 

31 January 2020 

The idea of solving problems while still making a profit is a remarkable and achievable one. Especially in Africa, where with experienced guidance many opportunities to support businesses with huge potential are presenting themselves. The Impakt Fund is an approved Section 12 J Company, and an impact investment platform for Africa with just this kind of powerful mission. In exciting news, The Impakt Fund recently successfully launched on January 31st, 2020 in Johannesburg, South Africa at the 12J Conference at Melrose Arch, where they presented their innovative and intriguing vision, that can revolutionize the way mindful investors approach African development. The enthusiasm surrounding the launch is high and rising. 

“We believe that business is the tool that can help to sustainably solve Africa’s problems in quite dramatic ways,” commented a spokesperson from the fund. “We had an amazing experience meeting potential investors, and businesses at the 12J Conference who share our vision and exciting mission, we look forward to connecting with more in the days and years to come.” 

Some of the world’s most impressive business successes have voiced support for this kind of initiative. A prime example is Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group, remarked, “Every risk is worth taking as long as it’s for a good cause and contributes to a good life.” 

The Impakt Fund is basing much of their drive around a very progressive concept that is inspiring increasing international interest and praise called the Business-as-a-Tool (BaaT) philosophy. This and more were discussed at the successful launch and The Impakt Fund continues their work to spread the BaaT message.

 The Impakt Fund is a proud initiative of the boutique management advisory firm the Grovation Group, who are trusted advisors for organizations looking for effective and innovative ways to solve the world’s problems. The Grovation Group is based in Cape Town, South Africa. For more information be sure to visit The Impakt Fund at http://www.impaktfund.com.

Early bird registrations have opened for South Africa’s most well know conference on debt collection.The 5th annual Debt Collection Conference – organised by Trade Conferences International - will take place on the 6 & 7 May 2020, at the Indaba Hotel, Fourways.

With digital disruption in the debt collection industry seems to be successfully adopted, replacing the traditional and inefficient ways of debt collection, attending the Debt Collection conference will help personnel in the debt collection space to keep abreast of new technology trends impacting on the industry.

Nearly 25 debt collection experts who will be addressing the audience on new developments and innovations within the debt collection industry, including technology and debt collection, legal framework, governance and compliance, call centre management, credit risk strategies, data analytic and the digital customer experience

Register today for the early bird discount of R2 500.00 per person

Normal registration fee for conference: R9400.00 + VAT = R10 350.00 p.p.

Early bird registration fee: R6 900 + VAT = R7 935.00 p.p. (Value until 10 December 2019)

To register as a delegate email Thunile Nkosi on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for sponsorship & exhibition enquiries call 011 803 1553 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Future Cities Hackathon will be held in Cape Town from 1 to 2 March by co-hosts, Startupbootcamp AfriTech (SBC) and RCS. The event underlines the Sustainable Development Goals and challenges citizen innovators to showcase disruptive solutions for water and sanitation, sustainable cities and communities, and smart mobility.

SBC AfriTech is a prestigious programme for Africa-focused tech startups. The programme supports the world’s up-and-coming pioneers including African tech startups, linking them to the fastest-moving corporates on the continent.

It is the only multi-corporate backed accelerator of its kind, powered by Old Mutual, Nedbank, RCS, BNP Paribas Personal Finance and PwC.

Last year, SBC AfriTech was named the Top Accelerator on the African continent by the Global Startup Awards.The accelerator is sponsored by some of the most innovative corporate partners in Africa and has proven to be a successful channel to scout, skill, and scale disruptive startups.

Regan Adams, CEO of RCS explains, “This year we will broaden our focus on the water crisis to include water sanitation and marine pollution. In addition, our focus on South Africa’s growing marine pollution, caused by rapid population growth and increasing industrialisation, is also in line with the global corporate investment strategy of our holding company, BNP Paribas. The second focus will be on finding sustainable and affordable transport solutions which is becoming a major issue in our cities. RCS is excited to once again be part of the Hackathon initiative and we unequivocally support and believe in our local startups in finding the most sustainable solutions for these challenges.”

Now in their third consecutive year, SBC is applying this powerful Corporate Startup Collaboration to solve municipal challenges.

Using Cape Town as a lab, the impact-orientated Future Cities Hackathon will focus on the following three UN Sustainable Development Goals:

SDG 6: Clean Water & Sanitation

SDG 11: Life Below Water

SDG 14: Sustainable Cities & Communities

“Startupbootcamp AfriTech has committed to championing Global Goal 11 (Sustainable Goals and Cities) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) by connecting solution-makers with corporates, innovation ecosystems, thought leaders, investors and mentors,” states Motlhabane Koloi, Legal and Scouting Manager and SDG Initiative Lead for SBC AfriTech.

This Hackathon will bring together innovators and corporates to materialise three of the sustainable development goals and we are excited to be setting the standard for sustainable innovation in corporates and the broader innovation ecosystem.

The hackathon will feature several top-level keynote speakers discussing the daunting challenges brought about by pollution, water access and urbanization.

The event is open to citizen innovators, startups and anyone with ideas to solving the most pressing sustainable development challenges facing our world today.

Over the course of two days, the goal is for attendees to form five to 10 teams tackling different challenges. These teams will focus on practical solutions that could be further developed and implemented with the support of the sponsors and their partners.

The aim of the hackathon is to crowdsource solutions, talent, and business models from the Cape Town innovation and resilience enablement ecosystem.

By holding events in more than 100 cities each year, SBC supports the world’s most talented founders with hands-on mentorship and access to key industry connections. SBC is known for growing and scaling innovative solutions to modern challenges within the African continent. This hackathon in particular strives to solve pertinent issues such as the water crisis by embracing new technology and ideas.

If you or anyone you know has a tech-based idea or solution to solve the challenges as stipulated by the Sustainable Development Goals, attend the hackathon and see your solution come to fruition.

Get your tickets here: http://qkt.io/futurecity 

Johannesburg, February 6, 2019 – Team Southern Africa Startup Awards today announced the formation of Setup A Startup (Pty) Ltd, a groundbreaking approach to catalyze entrepreneurship and innovation  in Africa. The Southern Africa Startup Awards which is a circuit of the Global Startup Awards will from now on be managed by Setup A Startup (Pty) Ltd.  Mckevin Ayaba, an experienced Startup Ecosystem builder, tech and innovation enthusiast who founded Southern Africa Startup Awards in 2017 and is the CEO, will lead the new organization as its CEO. Mckevin who was recently named Global Goodwill Ambassador for his humanitarian services to the community will take on his new position on Monday February 11, 2019.

BACKGROUND

The world-renowned Global Startup Awards, the largest independent startup ecosystem competition covering 57 countries in 7 regions of Europe and Asia, arrived in Africa in 2017. It launched the first regional startup awards, the Southern Africa Startup Awards in 2018 which saw over 3000 startups and ecosystem players nominated from the 15 SADC countries. It consisted of 15 categories with 14 countries taking home regional Grand Finale prizes. Three of the regional winners got investment deals to scale. The mission is to find, connect, support and celebrate key players in the national and regional startup ecosystems worldwide and to fuse them together in a global entrepreneurial network, creating a matrix of opportunities for international partnerships, investment opportunities and commercial exchange.“While the Awards were a great success, and there’s no denying that Africa has an abundance of innovative tech talent, it is apparent that the continent’s entrepreneurs lag far behind their global peers when it comes to being investment-ready,” says one of the judges and multiple award winning Female tech Entrepreneur and Founder of Obami, Barbara Mallinson.This is one of the outcomes of panel discussion on innovative platforms to fund start-ups in Africa which took place during the Awards, hosted in November 2018 in Johannesburg.Based on the feedback of the Investors who were on the panel, Leron Varsha from Kalon Venture Partners  representing Section 12J Venture Capital, Shakes Motsilili from The AZIZA Project , Marlon Green representing CABAN Investments and the startup founders themselves,  we have taken upon ourselves  ,through a new parent body, SETUP A STARTUP (SAS) in partnership with CABAN INVESTMENT LTD, to develop a whole range of services for entrepreneurs that include:  Services taking startups through to fully operational capitalised businesses; Raising capital for approved startups through our partners Seedslife Caban Impact Fund, a listed African Impact Fund; An Entrepreneurship Education Programme (EEP) that addresses a clear need amongst African founders: “How to start and grow their businesses” and be ready for investment.

SETUP A STARTUP

Setup A Startup (SAS) is a startup organization that aims to Develop, Connect, and promote startups in Africa. They facilitate entrepreneurship education, scout startups for corporates,  startup competitions, and innovation-centric media to accomplish these goals. In partnership with Caban Investment Ltd, SAS helps strengthen startups' competitiveness, grow global champions, scale, and raising capital and create opportunities for startups globally. SAS plays a key role in building a dynamic and sustainable startup ecosystem in Africa.

CABAN Investments

Caban, headed by Dave Romero, is a company born from authentic passion to enable entrepreneurs to succeed in business. A core focus is to invest in high-growth opportunities to maximise returns for shareholders, at the same time also providing a comprehensive service offering to cover all business development and professional business needs. From small start-ups to larger companies, CABAN offers the entire spectrum of business services. The CABAN team have over 100 years of combined entrepreneurship experience, have scaled 100s of companies over a 32 year period.  With offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg and London, they are able to scale startups to the European markets.

PROBLEM

Africa is increasingly taking its place on the global stage as a continent of growth and opportunity. Yet critical challenges remain, particularly the need to create a significant number of jobs for the continent’s booming population. Africa must build a cadre of home-grown business leaders able to access global markets and drive growth in a sustainable, inclusive manner. Unfortunately, the following barriers impede Africa’s entrepreneurs:

• Insufficient support services and skill-building resources;
• Lack of access to key resources, such as funding;
• Poor infrastructure and weak innovation ecosystems; 

This shared belief, our common view that each of us has a role to play in turning Africa’s challenges into opportunities, have led to Setup A Startup (SAS) and CABAN Investments undertaking to partner for startup ecosystem development across the continent with a focus on the following;

• Celebrate and connect Startups through an  Awards programme and the Entrepreneur Expo founded by CABAN;
• Helping startups to scale and internationalise through CABAN Investments and Seedlife Caban Impact Investment Fund listed on the Gilbratar Stock Exchange;
• Enable startups through our Entrepreneurship Education programme;
• Driving co-innovation between startups and enterprises;
• Building an access hub of connected ecosystems across African countries. 

“Entrepreneurs are most successful when they have access to the human, financial, and professional resources they need, and operate in an institutional environment in which norms and policies encourage and safeguard entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship flourishes in ecosystems in which multiple stakeholders play key synergistic roles, which often requires multi-stakeholder collaboration and partnerships” Says Mckevin Ayaba. With that being said, we will be announcing more partnerships in the subsequent days ahead that will helps achieve these goals. 

SETUP A STARTUP Pty Ltd, THE ONE STOP SHOP FOR ENTREPRENEURS! 

The Innovator Trust, an enterprise development organisation, and the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi), Africa’s oldest incubator, are calling on Cape Town-based growth-stage ICT entrepreneurs to join the intensive 2-year enterprise development programme.

The ICT sector has gone from strength to strength and is one of the fastest-growing industries on the African continent. Yet African entrepreneurs are still finding it a difficult business landscape to navigate. That is why The Innovator Trust and CiTi, through exposure, training and mentorship, now aim to equip entrepreneurs and businesses in the sector with tools that will keep them on track, assist them to achieve their goals and create tech leaders of the future.

ICT entrepreneurs in need of mentorship, skills development and business support who have been operating for more than 2 years and are fiercely committed to growing their business, can now apply to the prestigious 2-year Innovator Trust programme, co-developed and run by CiTi at the Woodstock Bandwidth Barn and remotely in Cape Town.

Applications close on 22 February and the selected candidates will be announced on 4 March. 

The Innovator Trust programme aims to support the: increase annual turnover, equip businesses with the necessary accreditation to remove red tape, as well as increase profitability and number of employees.

Get ready to move the dial on your business.

Celebrating its 20th year of supporting entrepreneurs, CiTi currently runs a number of incubation programmes from idea to growth stage. After a very successful first cohort of the programme, completed in 2018, CiTi confirmed a second collaboration with the Innovator Trust to support further Cape Town businesses over the next two years. Applicants need to be in “ICT”, but this has included a broad range of focusses in the past, from IT recruitment, network security to cabling service provider and software solutions. The programme, designed by CiTi and Innovator Trust, is not to be taken lightly. Monthly training, mentorship sessions with industry experts, and a strong focus on technical improvements means a substantial time and focus commitment by the entrepreneur. But this intensive design enables significant business progression over the two years. 

“Once the entrepreneurs who take part in our Enterprise Development programmes become more established, they turn their focus to growth. This accelerator is especially for entrepreneurs who’ve created businesses with high-growth potential and provides them with the skills to scale at speed and responsibly,” says Tashline Jooste, CEO of the Innovator Trust.

Cape Town was recently confirmed as the Tech Hub of Africa, by an Endeavor Insight Report commissioned by CiTi and partners, presenting growing opportunities for those businesses serious about growth, and with the right support.

“I believe strongly that ICT entrepreneurs are going to be critical to South Africa’s economic growth, which is why we need to focus on equipping these businesses with the skills they need to grow, create jobs and stimulate our economy,” adds Jooste.

In order to be considered for the programme, prospective applicants must meet the following criteria:

A company defined in South Africa as an SMME, QSE or EME;

Must be operational and trading for two or more years;

The business should be at least 51% black-owned;

A minimum Level 1 – 4 BBBEE status according to the DTI or ICT Codes;

The business must be a registered company with key focus in ICT and be based in Cape Town and surrounding areas.

In addition, applicants will need to supply copies of their company registration, company profile, and annual financial statements along with their BEE certificate and IDs with their applications.

“We had a fantastic experience on the Innovator Trust programme, perhaps most beneficial was the advice and mentorship on our financial management, up-skilling of our team, and establishing a 3-year budget and growth plan for the business. Our advice to entrepreneurs considering the course is “JUST DO IT!!!” The skills and knowledge you gain are invaluable and put us on a serious growth trajectory.” states Jennifer Classen, Founder of Ngaphaya Y2K10, and Participant in the 2015 – 2018 Innovator Trust programme.

Ready to grow your business? Learn more about the programme and submit your application HERE.

The Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative and the Royal Academy of Engineering once again work together on the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation 2018. Two South African companies are amongst the final 16 shortlisted candidates.

Monday 3 December 2018, Cape Town – Pelebox Smart Lockers and the Hybrid Five-Axis Machine Tool are the two South African innovations that are on the shortlist for the Royal Academy for Engineering’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, accelerated by the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi).

CiTi is Africa’s oldest tech incubator, in its 20th year in 2019, and the Royal Academy of Engineering is the United Kingdom’s prestigious national academy for engineering and technology since 1976. Since 2017, the Royal Academy of Engineering has worked with CiTi to support engineering and tech entrepreneurs from across the continent in developing their unique scalable solutions to local challenges. After a highly successful first cohort together, the Royal Academy of Engineering once again selected CiTi as the primary programme incubation partner to support the 16 businesses from the following 6 African countries in 2018/19: Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Burkina Faso and South Africa.

The programme, designed by CiTi specifically for the Royal Academy of Engineering, uses a remote incubation model, delivering entrepreneurial training, coaching and mentorship over the 7-month programme period; coupled with three residency weeks which include workshops, networking events and local entrepreneurial engagement sessions. The first residency week took place in Cape Town at the Bandwidth Barn in early November, and the following two will take place in London and Kampala. The entrepreneurs also stand a chance to receive £25,000 (R450,000) at the end of the programme, and all will have direct access to both the Academy and CiTi’s vast network of engineers, tech professionals, businesses and industry leaders.

“We have found a dynamic synergy with the Royal Academy of Engineering, especially around our shared impact values,” states Ian Merrington, CEO of the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi), “Making a difference and improving lives through technology by accelerating African innovation and African entrepreneurs is an objective shared by both organisations. CiTi has relished the opportunity to design a pan-African incubation programme. We now find ourselves strongly positioned as an African partner to international organisations who want to deliver high-impact support for entrepreneurship on the continent through hybrid models of training and mentorship.”

On why the Royal Academy of Engineering selected Cape Town-based CiTi as its incubation partner, Meredith Ettridge, Senior Manager for International Development at RAE, states: “Earlier this year we undertook a competitive tender process with a number of strong applications, following careful review we were very pleased to appoint CiTi as the training provider for the 2019 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, building on the success of the previous year. We were particularly pleased to award the contract to a training provider based in sub-Saharan Africa, and with such a strong history of support for entrepreneurs nationally and regionally.”

With Cape Town recently being named the leading Tech Hub of Africa, it should come as no surprise that two of the companies hail from SA.

“CiTi has a strong network of trainers and mentors in Cape Town so it was an easy decision to hold the first training session here. Cape Town also has a thriving technology ecosystem which was evident during the myriad of events happening as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week which allowed our shortlist to make excellent new connections,” adds Meredith Ettridge.

The Hybrid Five-Axis Machine Tool is the first of the South African innovations on the shortlist, developed by Dr Lukas du Plessis. Du Plessis’s hybrid machine tool works on five axes to allow users to shape, cut, grind, shear and otherwise form metals and hard materials with more precision.

“There’s so much manufacturing in South Africa that could be greatly improved if small and medium-sized businesses could afford machining tools like this – and my hope is to change that,” states Dr Lukas du Plessis, founder of the Hybrid Five-Axis Machine Tool.

He continues: “What I hope to gain from this experience is twofold: (i) A fundamental understanding of entrepreneurial business so that I can support entrepreneurs in South Africa to establish compact manufacturing firms that are competitive internationally. (ii) I also hope to find a partner who shares my manufacturing vision and passion for machine tools.”

The second South African innovation is the Pelebox Smart Locker system developed by Neo Hutiri.

Pelebox is a smart locker system designed for public healthcare facilities to dispense chronic medicine to regular patients, cutting down on long queues and easing pressure on clinic resources.

Developed by Hutiri and his team for the South African healthcare system, the Pelebox is a simple wall of lockers, controlled by a digital system in the centre. Healthcare workers stock the lockers with chronic prescription refills, log the medicine on the system, and secure each locker. Pelebox then sends patients a one-time PIN, which they simply enter into the system to unlock their medicine.

“The public healthcare system is so often under strain, and Pelebox can take a lot of pressure off clinics who fill repeat prescriptions for regular patients,” comments Neo Hutiri, founder of Pelebox Smart Lockers.

He adds: “To be considered amongst thousands of innovators and entrepreneurs that would have applied for this prize is a testament to the work that we are doing on the ground in leveraging technology to serve people. Our vision is to create and promote inclusive technologies solving challenging issues in health. We feel that we are well positioned to solve the issue of long queues in clinics through technology that is patient-centric and easy to use.”

Startupbootcamp AfriTech (SBC AfriTech) was named the Winner of the Top Accelerator Award by the first annual Southern Africa Startup Awards, in partnership with the Global Startup Awards.

Following a rigorous process of nominations, public voting and adjudication, on Thursday 22 November 2018 at the regional Grand Finale of Southern Africa Startup Awards, 15 winners in 15 categories, from 14 participating SADC countries were announced, and SBC AfriTech walked away with the title of Top Accelerator. The award was received by Nsovo Nkatingi, Programme Manager for SBC AfriTech and the only female to lead an accelerator of this scope. 

“Startupbootcamp AfriTech is truly honoured to have received this award,” states Nsovo Nkatingi, Programme Manager for SBC AfriTech, “And we are even more privileged to be backed by Nedbank, Old Mutual, PwC, RCS and BNP Paribas Personal Finance, these are the partnerships that help us validate the impact we have in Africa’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.”

The Southern Africa Startup Awards is a circuit of the world renowned Global Startup Awards, which provides an annual spotlight on web/tech startups in regions across the globe with focus on startups around 5 years old, highlighting up-and-coming and established technology talent globally.Prior to the Grand Finale, more than 3000 nominees went through public voting and adjudication in their home countries to win the national round. The winners were then further judged and ranked by an esteemed panel of international judges, whose decision was eventually combined with individual public votes from across the globe for the finalists to win at the regional Grand Finale of the 2018 Southern Africa Startup Awards.

“The tech ecosystem in Africa is expanding rapidly and there are many new entrants - both local and international - that are providing amazing support to local startups. This means that all the accelerator programmes must keep raising their game,” states Philip Kiracofe, co-founder and CEO of SBC AfriTech, “We are humbled to have received this award and are honoured to proudly represent the African continent at the Global Startup Awards competition. The recognition for SBC AfriTech gives us yet another platform through which to showcase the disruptive startups in our cohort, and the innovative corporate sponsors who are powering them.”

SBC AfriTech is now officially the leading tech accelerator on the African continent and is the Africa-leg of a global family of industry-focused accelerators. The AfriTech accelerator is focused on high-growth startups in blockchain, connected devices, payment solutions, capital markets and asset management, integrated supply chain, e-commerce, FinTech, RetailTech, InsurTech, alternative financing, identity management, digital connectivity, data and behavioural analytics and enabling technologies.

Selected winners of the National Awards in each Region, such as Africa, will then participate in the Global Startup Awards the following year. Six of the categories announced at the Southern Africa Startup Awards, including Best Startup Accelerator/Incubator, which SBC AfriTech won, will now be represented at the Global Startup Awards next year. This means they will compete with the winners of 6 other regions for the global accolade to be announced in 2019. This ceremony will be held in China with the venue and date still to be confirmed.

“Innovation 'For Africans, By Africans' is baked into the DNA of SBC AfriTech and we are passionately devoted to accelerating every aspect of the ecosystem - startups, corporates, young digital talent, our partner network, and of course the SBC AfriTech team. We are able to leverage a global support network that includes 680 startup alumni, hundreds of corporate sponsors, and thousands of mentors to fulfil our core mission to scout, skill, and scale the best innovators on the continent. We work tirelessly every day to embrace this ethos and we are ecstatic to be recognized with this award. Naturally, we are excited to look forward to the Global Startup Awards competition, but regardless of what happens there, our most important focus will continue to be the local and regional ecosystem,” concludes Kiracofe.  

For more information on Startupbootcamp AfriTech or this press release, please contact:

Mika Stanvliet | 081 534 6237 | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

About Startupbootcamp AfriTech:

In 2017 the global Startupbootcamp network launched the first-ever Africa-based SBC programme in Cape Town.SBC AfriTech is a leading accelerator focused on high-growth startups in blockchain, connected devices, payment solutions, capital markets and asset management, integrated supply chain, e-commerce, FinTech, RetailTech, InsurTech, alternative financing, identity management, digital connectivity, data and behavioural analytics and enabling technologies.

The accelerator is anchored by leading corporate sponsors Old Mutual, RCS, BNP Paribas Personal Finance, Nedbank, and PwC that will support and grow the program and selected startups. Global sponsors include Amazon Web Services, and Cisco.

The programme is also supported by several service partners including: Cloudworx, VC4A, Inner City Ideas Cartel, Brevity Law and The Loudhailer.

For more information visit: https://www.startupbootcamp.org/accelerator/afritech/ 

About SASAwards:

Southern Africa Startup Awards is a circuit of the world renowned Global Startup Awards, which provides an annual spotlight on web/tech startups in regions across the globe with focus on startups around 5 years old, highlighting up-and-coming and established technology talent globally. Entries are judged by an esteemed panel of judges, all leaders in the respective fields, as well as by public vote. Global Startup Awards is the largest independent startup-ecosystem competition started in the Nordics in 2012, covering more than 45 countries in 7 regions.Since 2012, Global Startup Awards has grown to include South East Asia, Central Europe, SAARC Region (South Asia), and now East Asia, Baltics and Southern Africa which launched in 2018.

For more information about the awards please visit: www.southernafricastartupawards.com

Deal-flow sessions with top innovators lead to experimentation and commercialisation with SA corporates

19 September 2018, Johannesburg, South Africa – The Disruption Agenda, a first-of-its-kind event for the country, saw over 200 top business leaders and innovation thinkers attend the inaugural launch this week. This new platform initiated by Nedbank in partnership with Silicon Valley’s Plug and Play team, sought to connect leading global and local innovation talent to leaders ready to implement disruptive technologies.

The two-day event was structured into deal-flow sessions on Day 1 where thirty of Nedbank CIB’s top clients engaged with 10 of the most innovative startups sourced with the help of Plug and Play, known as the world’s largest innovation platform. Day two saw pitches from the 10 startups and a Disruption Panel Discussion with Nedbank’s lead thinkers on disruption and digital transformation to over 200 clients of Nedbank CIB’s, Retail Business Banking and Nedbank Private Wealth clients with a goal to stimulate and accelerate innovation action.

“The focus on disruption is something that we’ve been driving not only in our business, but as new value propositions for our clients. Additionally, our objective is to advance the local tech community,” shares Stuart van der Veen, Head of Innovation and Disruption at Nedbank CIB. Nedbank identify the top 100 disruptors every six months, both locally and globally. From this, 12 collaborations are identified across Nedbank with six progressing to experimentation and one through to commercialisation on a rolling basis.

“Aerobotics is a great example. They were one of the disruptors we identified, and we’ve taken them through to commercialisation with several of our clients,” concludes van der Veen.

Reflecting on the event, Alex Fenn, Technology and Innovation Lead for Sibanye-Stillwater, commented, “Mining companies are experiencing increasing cost pressures and volatile commodity prices. We’ve pulled all of the efficiency levers that we have at hand. I believe the next paradigm shift in operational performance will come from the adoption of some type of disruptive technology at a very broad level. We’ve identified enormous opportunity amongst the startups that we have engaged with, which could be critical to our digital transformation and sustainability going forward.”

The startups selected to showcase include Aerobotics, Dispel, GotBot, IoT.nxt, Koniku, LifeQ, Sentiance, Trueface AI, Wasteless and What3Words.

Michael Clampett, Head of Asset and Property Management: Retail at Attacq Group, states: “We’re quite small to allocate resources to sourcing top innovation at this scale but in partnership with Nedbank, this has now been possible, and we have access to innovate more quickly.”

In the venture capital space there a number of new entrants investing in disruptive tech startups, with the industry sitting around 4.4 billion and around 530 deals existing within the venture capital sector. Of these figures, 1.1 billion was new capital invested and 159 of deals took place in 2017 reflecting steady growth in the sector.

When talking about The Disruption Agenda, Herman Singh, Chief Digital Officer for MTN Group, shared, “This model of like-minded corporates working together to assist and facilitate innovation results in the startup model having the highest probability to succeed.”

The Disruption Agenda sought to activate experimentation and proof of concept initiatives between startups and corporates as a pragmatic, action-orientated approach to ensure impactful outcomes of the engagements.

“It’s been an extraordinary two days. The deal-flow sessions were transformative for us. As a small part of a wider business scaling globally, it’s been phenomenal to have the support of executives in those meetings with potential clients of Nedbank’s and to have them facilitate those conversations, so we can start to discuss proof-of-concepts and commercialisation. It’s a very exciting thing for us, to have so much hands-on support. It’s changed the way we think about how corporates are dealing with the innovation space in South Africa,” adds Lyndsey Duff, Country Manager for What3Words in South Africa. 

ENDS 

For more information on The Disruption Agenda or this press release please contact:

Mika Stanvliet | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | 081 534 6237 

About Nedbank Group

Nedbank Group is a bank holding company listed on JSE Limited (JSE) with a market capitalisation of R125 billion as at 30 June 2018. Nedbank Group is one of Africa’s largest banking groups.Its principal banking subsidiary is Nedbank Limited, and the group is 54% majority owned by Old Mutual Limited (OML), which has a primary listing on the JSE with secondary listings in London, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Namibia. Nedbank Group owns subsidiaries and banks in Namibia, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Zimbabwe, and offshore in the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey. It also has representative offices in other Southern Africa countries, including Angola and Kenya, and has key global financial centres to provide international banking services for SA-based multinational and high-net-worth clients in London, Toronto and Dubai (UAE).We are a diversified financial services provider, offering a wide range of wholesale and retail banking services, as well as insurance, asset management and wealth management solutions.

For more information, visit https://www.nedbank.co.za/    

About Plug and Play:

Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services, and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 20 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 6,000 startups and 220 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries.We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 700 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $7 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club, PayPal, SoundHound, and Zoosk.

For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com

Nedbank announces the Top 10 Innovators sourced from around the globe that they will connect to major corporates and business leaders in partnership with Silicon’s Valley’s Plug and Play, the world’s largest innovation platform, at this first of its kind event.

South Africa, 5 September 2018 – Nedbank recently announced the expansion of their US partnership with Plug and Play, the world’s largest innovation platform, to include South Africa for the first time. Together, the entities will connect 10 visionary entrepreneurs from around the world to business leaders at The Disruption Agenda to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa in September.

“We’re incredibly excited for the ten startups that are going to be part of The Disruption Agenda. The most important thing for Nedbank is to get pilots and experiments underway and push straight through to commercialization where possible,” states Stuart van der Veen, Head of Disruption and Innovation at Nedbank CIB. “We’ve engaged with our most forward-thinking clients and they will be participating in both the deal-flow sessions and be present at the actual pitches of the startups.”

Nedbank initiated their relationship with Plug and Play, described as the ultimate matchmaking machine between startups and corporates, two years ago as a sponsor of the global FinTech programme. Startups selected to engage at The Disruption Agenda represent both African and global startups from across industry sectors.

Startups selected for The Disruption Agenda

1.Koniku: Starts with the premise that biology is the most advanced technology on earth. Their belief is that Bio is Tech™. Koniku builds living machines with synthetic biology. Machines which can detect fake food, design taste, detect explosives, infectious diseases, cancers and more. Nature is our open source library. Currently, the company grafts custom proteins which act sensors on living cells – neurons - and encapsulate them within a silicon chip. The chips – Koniku Kore’s - will one day power the next generation of cognitive robots – synthetic cognition. 

2.Airware: Airware is the leading enterprise drone analytics company helping enterprises leverage today’s rapidly advancing technologies (such as drones, cloud computing, machine learning and more) to safely see and sense their sites and structures to improve productivity, mitigate risks, and take workers out of harm’s way. Airware enables enterprises to harness aerial data and turn it into valuable business insights that can be shared and acted on across sites, teams, and geographies. Their solutions enable enterprises to reinvent their organizations for the digital era by translating aerial data into business impact.

3.Sentiance: Sentiance analyses sensor data to understand human behavior and context so clients can develop new products and services that turn the Internet of Things (IoT) into the Internet of You. Sentiance context intelligence enables solutions for lifestyle-based insurance, contextual marketing and commerce, smart mobility, connected health, smart home, smart city and connected car. 

4.LifeQ: LifeQ implements a unique multidisciplinary approach underpinned by in-depth knowledge and understanding of human physiology and systems biology to extract and deliver relevant and meaningful person-specific digital biomarkers from various curated data sources. They are a world-leading science and technology company that want people from all walks of life to enjoy optimal health. LifeQ generates, and makes available, high-value personalized health information and solutions, which would traditionally be inaccessible or only obtainable through costly, invasive and inaccessible means, at a reliability level suitable for use by individuals, businesses, and clinical providers.

5.Wasteless: Wasteless is the world’s first machine-learning solution with real-time tracking for grocery stores looking to offer customers dynamic pricing based on a product’s expiration date. Wasteless takes machine learning capabilities used online and brings them to Brick and Mortar outlets. Tracking products at the item level, automating manual processes, and applying dynamic pricing have been the foundation of successful e-commerce platforms enabling them to substantially increase their profits. Wasteless allows supermarkets to close the gap and compete in the digital era.

6.Trueface AI: Trueface computer vision solutions augment any existing camera feed into intelligent, actionable data capable of identifying persons-of-interest, objects and more. Trueface AI provides facial recognition and spoof detection solutions for clients of all sizes. It provides an API, on-premise solution and a no-code solution for identity management. The Trueface mission is to educate on the benefits of computer vision and make it accessible for businesses looking for more unique and secure solutions.

7.Aerobotics: Aerobatics provides farmers around the world with world-leading pest and disease management systems for tree crop protection using drone and satellite data. Aerobotics’ software, Aeroview, empowers Tree Crop Farmers to identify early stage problems in their orchards. Used in conjunction with the Aerobotics’ Aeroview Scout App on their smartphone, farmers are able to locate problem areas on a tree-by-tree basis. Achieving success for over 6 million trees to-date, Aerobotics is setting the standard for tree crop analytics globally and innovating the agricultural processes as we know them.

8.What3Words: What3Words is a universal addressing system provides a precise and incredibly simple way to talk about location. They have divided the world into a grid of 3m x 3m squares and assigned each one a unique 3-word address. Better addressing can enhance customer experience, deliver business efficiency, drive growth and support social and economic development. It was the first system designed for voice and human interaction with machines.

9.Dispel: Dispel makes cloaking technology, rendering networked infrastructure and endpoints invisible and segmented, stopping attackers from gaining actionable knowledge usable in a cyberattack. Dispel cloaking is a secure overlay network in which applications can be deployed, or around which infrastructure can be concealed. They accomplish this cloaking through network-level Moving Target Defense: an orchestrated mass-virtualization and encryption technology designed to disrupt attacker's operations. An offensive, moving target defence stops attacks well ahead of older technologies. Dispel has established an industry-leading security program, ensuring customers have a high degree of confidence and trust in their stewardship of customer data and operations.

10.IoT.nxt: IoT.nxt has developed a world-leading framework that makes efficiencies, cost savings and increased revenue from IoT (Internet of Things) a reality for businesses. The IoT.nxt platform allows rapid deployment and businesses to action an Internet of Things strategy with little disruption to current operations.The major strength of the IoT.nxt framework is that the solution is technology-agnostic. They can help digitise any industry, any system and any process. IoT.nxt lays the foundation for rapid digitisation, creating agile, efficient, future-proofed businesses. They’ll help you create an interconnected, interoperable ecosystem without disrupting your business. 

“Some of the best startups in the world, when it comes to disruption, exist right here in South Africa. LifeQ, IoT.nxt and Aerobotics are proudly South African startups that will be participants in the event,” adds van der Veen, “one of the founders of Koniku is Nigerian who is now based in Berkeley in the United States. They’re the world’s first neurocomputation company, so essentially looking at neurons and genetically editing them to be able to detect small traces of substances, for example, explosives, illicit materials and even disease, anything a dog’s nose can sense.”

“Aerobotics is a Cape Town-based but global startup, now focusing on drone analytics, looking at agriculture and tree crops. So, from the startups attending The Disruption Agenda, we see massive value for clients as well as for the ecosystem at large.”

The 10 startups attending The Disruption Agenda are from across the globe, with half based in Silicon Valley, but their solutions are all applicable to the African continent. 

A Word From the Startups

"Africa deserves access to cutting-edge technology like everywhere else. Imagine being able to screen for any illness by breath alone. Personal and population health data at your fingertips using volatile organic compounds produced by the body,” comments Oshiorenoya Agabi, founder and CEO of Koniku. “At Koniku we believe any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from Nature. Using synthetic biology, we can build from the same building blocks as nature.”

“At LifeQ we saw the opportunity to leverage physiological data by bridging the gap between insights generated from limited access to expensive medical grade outputs and the easily accessible inexpensive consumable devices with their low efficacy outputs,” adds Dylan Garnett, COO of LifeQ, “I am very excited that LifeQ has been selected for Plug and Play as it will undoubtedly serve as a great platform to help identify and, along with others, address real needs that exist in South Africa and the broader African continent, thereby furthering LifeQ's vision of improving human health and wellbeing at scale.”The solutions built by these young innovators each demonstrate the importance of using tech to future-proof not only businesses but human lives, and how critical disruption across every industry is.

“Sentiance carries the company goal "Improving people’s lives using AI”. The technology is used today to help people live a healthier life and, amongst others, to reduce accidents. Our insights can be used by our customers to engage with their users and to improve their daily lives. Healthcare and insurance providers can, for example, provide lifestyle coaching and also detect and predict heart arrhythmia. Mobility and automotive companies can provide driver coaching and increase road safety and more. The Sentiance platform allows companies to engage with their end-users in a privacy-aware manner, at right time in the right moment, thereby improving the user’s quality of life and assisting in day to day tasks,” states Oliver Bath, Head of Client Services at Sentiance.

The Disruption Agenda is aimed at select clients and ecosystem collaborators.

To find out more you can follow Nedbank CIB social channels or get in contact by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  

-- ENDS -- 

For more information about this press release please contact:

Mika Stanvliet | The This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | 081 534 6237 

About Nedbank Group
Nedbank Group is a bank holding company listed on JSE Limited (JSE) with a market capitalisation of R125 billion as at 30 June 2018. Nedbank Group is one of Africa’s largest banking groups.Its principal banking subsidiary is Nedbank Limited, and the group is 54% majority owned by Old Mutual Limited (OML), which has a primary listing on the JSE with secondary listings in London, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Namibia. Nedbank Group owns subsidiaries and banks in Namibia, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Zimbabwe, and offshore in the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey. It also has representative offices in other Southern Africa countries, including Angola and Kenya, and has key global financial centres to provide international banking services for SA-based multinational and high-net-worth clients in London, Toronto and Dubai (UAE).We are a diversified financial services provider, offering a wide range of wholesale and retail banking services, as well as insurance, asset management and wealth management solutions.

For more information, visit https://www.nedbank.co.za/ 

About Plug and Play:
Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services, and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 20 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 6,000 startups and 220 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries.We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 700 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $7 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club, PayPal, SoundHound, and Zoosk.

For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com