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 

Cape Town-based CloudOne Technologies Pty Ltd, trading as CloudOne.mobi, has announced that it closed two funding rounds totalling R34m at the end of 2018. The investors include Investec Private Capital, through its Emerging Companies mandate. The investment will be used to help scale out and grow the business more aggressively. CloudOne.mobi was founded in October 2014 with the mission of re-inventing the Point Of Sale (POS) experience.

Founder and CEO Dana Buys has successfully started and sold a number of software businesses since launching his first business while studying at the University of Cape Town in the early 1980s. Subsequently a hospitality business owner, among other interests, he became frustrated with poor levels of technology, particularly related to POS. Buys is passionate about customer service and wanted a solution that would improve the speed and accuracy of serving customers.

 "Speed and accuracy deliver a win-win for both business and its customers,” he says. “Happy customers spend more and spread the good news via word of mouth. Accurate orders reduce costly mistakes and improve profitability. It’s hard to beat if you can make the solution easy-to-use and affordable to own!” He continues, “There is massive opportunity to deploy affordable Cloud and mobile technology in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Cloud solutions model allows us to eliminate many of the headaches experienced by SME businesses which often lack strong IT skills. We develop the , keep the systems up to date, manage the databases and integration to external solutions, perform regular backups, and enforce security.” 

CloudOne.mobi has developed an advanced cloud-based Point of Sale solution called TallOrder for SME businesses across the hospitality, retail and service segments. TallOrder delivers Cloud benefits, along with robust offline capacity to deal with the relatively slow, less reliable and costlier Internet prevalent throughout emerging markets. Buys explains that similar solutions developed in the United States and Europe assume an always-on, fast and low-cost Internet which is not yet the case in Africa and other developing markets.solution

 CloudOne.mobi says TallOrder is easy to deploy, easy to learn to run, and operates on Microsoft Windows, Apple's iOS, and Android devices. It is designed for traditional point of sale stations, tablets and even smartphone-sized devices. The system supports mobile use, which boosts the speed and accuracy of customer service. "TallOrder replaces expensive upfront license and installation fees with low monthly or annual fees, based on the number of devices in use. This opens the market to many businesses which previously could not afford nor cope with the older technology" says Anna Groenewald, COO and co-founder at CloudOne.mobi.

 According to Meiring de Wet, Chief Technology Officer at CloudOne.mobi, "SME companies by themselves will never generate enough data to be as truly useful as Big Data. We have built TallOrder in a way that allows us to aggregate the small data coming from SME businesses into Big Data".    

“This investment is an important opportunity for CloudOne.mobi to expand our software developments and allow us to rapidly scale our marketing and sales efforts and increase our future partnership opportunities,” stated Groenewald. Learn more about CloudOne.mobi and their hero products TallOrder Point of Sale and PageMan Digital Signage on their website, https://cloudone.mobi/ or contact them at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it./ +27 (0) 728630116

Details for Startupbootcamp AfriTech’s global FastTrack Tour for 2019 has been confirmed and the search for top-performing disruptive startups seeking solutions for positive change in Africa is on.

Applications for each event close three days ahead of time – apply HERE.

Wednesday 6 February 2019, Cape Town – Startupbootcamp AfriTech is one of the most sought-after programmes for Africa-focused tech startups. In 2010, the Startupbootcamp programme was founded with a simple goal in mind: to support the world’s best innovators through all stages of growth. This led to the first-ever Africa-focused accelerator of its kind, namely Startupbootcamp AfriTech (SBC AfriTech), to launch in Cape Town in 2017.

In SBC AfriTech’s first two years, the twenty companies in the portfolio signed 52 pilots and commercial agreements with large corporations. In 2018, the programme was named the Top Accelerator on the continent by the Global Startup Awards.

Now, in its third consecutive year, SBC AfriTech is calling on high-growth startups in the tech industry to apply to a prestigious 3-month programme aimed at helping companies scale in the global market.

“Through Startupbootcamp’s expansion to numerous countries in Europe, Asia and America, and now Africa, it’s clear that the accelerator movement has caught on quickly, showing a demand for ongoing support in a globally growing entrepreneurial community,” says Startupbootcamp Founder and CEO, Philip Kiracofe.

“The SBC AfriTech FastTrack Tour for 2019 is an open canvas for forward-thinking startups to initiate a shift in traditional thinking while networking with hundreds of other innovative, like-minded people wanting to set new benchmarks in the African tech industry”, adds Nsovo Nkatingi, AfriTech Programme Director.

“Attending a FastTrack is useful for startups wishing to apply to the SBC AfriTech programme,” states Velani Mboweni, CEO of SBC AfriTech 2018 alumnus Lüla, “At the Cape Town FastTrack we engaged with corporate sponsors to the programme Old Mutual and Nedbank and engaged with them right from the get-go, which really gave us a leg-up in our SBC journey.”

Lula is a mobility-as-a-service startup and over the course of the 3 months spent at the SBC AfriTech accelerator, Lula completed 4 pilots in Cape Town with some of the biggest corporations in South Africa and is now raising its first formal investment round.

The SBC AfriTech FastTrack Tour for 2019 will cover 19 events in 14 countries.

Attending a FastTrack will boost your chances to joining SBC AfriTech’s highly-acclaimed and intensive three-month programme, by 20 percent. FastTracks are informal events hosted all over the world and the aim is for the SBC team, mentors and sponsors to have the opportunity to meet the most suitable early-stage companies interested in joining the 2019 programme. For each FastTrack, the top ten startups to apply will receive instant feedback from a panel of industry mentors, be able to network with the SBC investment team and learn more about the SBC AfriTech.

The accelerator is anchored and endorsed by leading corporate sponsors Old Mutual, RCS, BNP Paribas Personal Finance, Nedbank and PwC that will support and grow the program and selected startups. Leaders from these corporates will be present at the FastTrack events to engage and mentor.

Interested startups can click here to find the FastTrack nearest them and submit your application.

Applications to the FastTracks is currently open and applications to join the final accelerator will open on 20 February 2019.

To apply to the FastTrack nearest you, please visit http://bit.ly/ftapply19

FastTrack Tour Dates for 2019:

• 19 February 2019 Johannesburg
• 23 February 2019 Nairobi
• 25 February 2019 Dar es Salaam
• 18 March 2019 Kigali
• 20 March 2019 Kampala
• 22 March 2019 Nairobi
• 8 April 2019 Accra
• 10 April 2019 Dakar
• 25 April 2019 Casablanca
• 27 April 2019 Lagos
• 28 April 2019 Lagos
• 30 April 2019 Abidjan
• 30 April 2019 Durban
• 3-4 May 2019 Johannesburg (Hackathon)
• 7 May 2019 Gaborone
• 9 May 2019 Harare
• 14 May 2019 Zurich
• 17 May 2019 Paris (VivaTech)

Beyond the FastTracks

Startupbootcamp AfriTech sees the potential of African startups solving real-world problems with disruptive technology. As part of a global family of industry-focused accelerators, the team believes in the power of Africa. In 2018, 20 percent of the number of applications received across the Startupbootcamp global family of accelerators came from African-based startups. Over the past seven years, the United States has been the leader with the highest number of funding applications submitted, followed by India, United Kingdom, Nigeria, South Africa, Italy and Mexico.

“Another of the aims of SBC is to support gender- and ethnically diverse teams at any stage in their growth”, says Zachariah George, CIO and Co-Founder of SBC AfriTech, “In 2018, 30 percent of the teams who went through the programmes were led by female founders – a 7 percent increase from 2017. Additionally, SBC AfriTech is the only accelerator of its kind to be led by a powerhouse of females, seasoned in startup coaching – Nsovo Nkatingi.”

SBC AfriTech is focused on high-growth startups in Big Data, Dashboard & Predictive Analysis, Process Automation & Simulation, Machine Learning, Content Aggregation & Knowledge Management, Digital Customer Journey, HealthTech, Sensors, Health Data Analytics, IOT & Asset Tracking, Distributed Ledgers, Digital Identity Management & Authentication, FinTech for Financial Management & Financial Inclusion, P2P and Sharing Economy, On-Demand Pricing, Usage-Based Solutions, Smart Mobility & Open Transportation Networks, RetailTech, Augmented Reality, Computer Vision and Sensors.

“The greatest highlight of attending SBC AfriTech in 2018, was just having that cushioning through mentorship and access to an ecosystem that we would normally not get,” states Kamogelo Kekana, co-Founder and COO of Akiba Digital, SBC Alumnus 2018, “For us, SBC has tremendously accelerated our business. We’ve forged partnerships with corporates that wouldn’t previously have taken us seriously – so it’s given us significant credibility.”

Global sponsors include Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, and Cisco, with service partners The Loudhailer, Brevity Law, Cloudworx, the Inner City Ideas Cartel and VC4A.

For more information about SBC AfriTech, visit www.startupbootcamp.org/accelerator/afritech and follow @SBCAfriTech on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

or more information about Startupbootcamp, visit www.startupbootcamp.org and follow @Sbootcamp on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, flickr and Instagram.

-- ENDS --

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

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

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.

Airbus and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) have announced the top 10 African tech start-ups that will take part in the latest Airbus Bizlab #Africa4Future accelerator programme. They were selected after an open public pitch event in front of experts, potential investors, the media and other stakeholders in Kenya’s capital city.

#Africa4Future is a joint business accelerator initiative of Airbus and GIZ’s Make-IT in Africa initiative together with the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), a nonprofit seed fund and pan-African organisation that brings together startups, entrepreneurs and the tech community, and Innocircle, the South African-based innovation consultancy.

The top 10 start-ups were selected from 314 entries representing 19 African countries that were received when the challenge was opened last October. These were assessed by a panel of Airbus and other independent experts.

The programme aims to encourage and support entrepreneurship in Africa. The continent’s young and increasingly techno-savvy population is likely to be the driving force behind Africa’s socio-economic development. The competition identifies Africa’s own pool of talented entrepreneurs using innovative aerospace based solutions to tackle the continent’s most pressing challenges such as transportation, agriculture and healthcare.

As a global aerospace accelerator, Airbus BizLab is ideally suited to help African startups transform innovative ideas into viable and valuable businesses. In doing so, it increases the aerospace industry’s engagement with hardware and software innovators and entrepreneurs in Africa while helping to nurture the establishment of competitive entrepreneurial ecosystems on the continent.

The Nairobi event kicks off an intensive 6-month business incubation and accelerator programme involving technical, commercial and mentorship activities in France, Germany and South Africa. This includes workshops and coaching sessions with Airbus experts, GIZ’s Make-IT in Africa, MEST and Innocircle coaches.

The programme will culminate with Demo Day events at the biennial Paris International Airshow and a special event in Germany from 19-26 June, when finalists will launch their products, define their collaboration with Airbus and announce their investment commitments in front of representatives from across the aerospace industry.

Finalists:

1. Astral Aerial (Kenya) – using drones for humanitarian cargo transport, surveillance and emergency response.

2. Cote d’Ivoire drone (Ivory Coast) – locally-manufactured drones for various applications.

3. Elemental Numerics (South Africa) – applies computational fluid dynamics techniques to the design of machines and components, ranging from aircraft to heart valves.

4. Lentera Limited (Kenya) – applying remote sensors to monitor and transmit environmental data to enable more efficient and smarter farming.

5. Maisha ICT Tech PLC (Ethiopia) – deploying locally built drones for delivering medicines, blood and healthcare items to remote and rural areas.

6. MamaBird (Malawi) – provides a platform to help Governments, NGOs and other organisations deliver vital life-saving supplies to remote communities.

7. Map Action (Mali) – a solution offering real-time online urban mapping to identify problems affecting water supplies, hygiene and sanitation.

8. MobiTech Water Solutions (Kenya) – an online real-time water monitoring solution that allows businesses, homes and water-service providers to manage their available water using an app-based dashboard and instant messaging.

9. Track Your Build (Nigeria) – a novel infrastructure management tool for construction and operations.

10. WiPo Wireless Power (South Africa) – offers reliable and convenient wireless power chargers for businesses, conference centres, airports, restaurants and other venues for the charging of mobile devices, laptops and drones.

Cape Town Edtech startup Angaza Ltd has launched a disruptive smartphone app which helps high-school learners be brilliant at maths. MindZu (www.mindzu.com) is an exquisitely crafted learning experience, whose gorgeous graphics and slick interface just make you want to explore. 

Godfrey Parkin and Karen Parkin, of Cape Town’s digital strategy firm Britefire, are two of Angaza’s founders. According to Godfrey, “MindZu raises the bar for STEAM e-learning. Clichéd teacher videos are replaced with animated fantasy and fun, while comprehensively covering the full year’s curriculum. Learning is mission-based – you have to rescue your friends from the clutches of the Army of Meh, using maths as your super-power. Every second is colourful, stimulating and motivating. Learners are in control of what they learn, and how fast they learn it. Performance systems let them know what they missed, where they need to focus, and where they are brilliant. Gamified challenges and rewards are woven into personalised learning journeys. And learners are not alone – they can connect with others in their class or around the world. MindZu runs on basic Android smartphones, online or offline. And it’s all available for a fraction of the cost of conventional e-learning.”

Angaza’s goal is to make a superb learning experience universally affordable.

Over the coming months MindZu will roll out the maths and sciences curricula for the last two years of high school. According to Godfrey Parkin, the year before matric is the tipping point for most learners. “This is where maths gets hard, and where many learners start to hate it. This is the point where potential future doctors, engineers and scientists choose an alternate career path. It is where learners with an interest in the arts turn away from an opportunity to add new dimensions to their creative mind. This is the point where Angaza decided to make a difference.” For now, it's available only in India.

He explained that the bootstrapped startup has to quickly achieve operational profitability. “Why are we launching in India and not South Africa? To keep MindZu amazingly affordable, our margins are razor thin. So we need to launch in a market with real volume potential. India gives us a vast market already highly receptive to mobile education. But we will bring MindZu to Africa later this year, probably through a sponsor or business partner.”

MindZu is the culmination of years of work by a global team of educational writers, game developers, instructional designers, animators and user experience experts. Angaza’s founders are deeply experienced in education and technology. Khalaf Rashid was the resident partner and CEO of Macmillan Publishers in Tanzania. Karen Parkin is a UX expert with a history of computer games production and award winning digital projects in major European and US corporations. Kwang Lee is an artist, animator and creative director. Godfrey Parkin is a digital strategist, and was one of the original pioneers of e-learning in the US.

You can find out more about MindZu at www.mindzu.com.

Contact: Godfrey Parkin, CEO, at +27 21 794 7838 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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

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.

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 from here 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 to win at the regional Grand Finale of the 2018 Southern Africa Startup Awards.

The event, which was hosted at the illustrious Steyn City development in the North of Johannesburg, in collaboration with LIMIT BREAKERS GLOBAL FOUNDATION, brought together some of the most sought after startups, startup supporters and investors in the region in conversation and celebration.

True to their mission of regional interconnectedness, the 2 day awards event kicked off with attendees engaging in deep and challenging conversation, first with a panel discussion on innovative platforms to fund startups in Africa, and then a round table discussion among the startup ecosystem about the state of investment readiness and what can be put in place to bridge the ever widening gap between great startups and investors.

About the round table discussion, Founder of Growthwheel, Hilton Theunissen said “This offers a unique opportunity for investors, startup supporters and startups to sit around the same table and really get into ecosystem issues.”

Founder of LIMIT BREAKERS GLOBAL FOUNDATION, and discussion facilitator at the event, Nokuthula (Nokky) Ndlovu put the challenge to all in the room that “We should not end this at discussion, but rather commit ourselves to action, as we become deliberate about growing startups, creating an environment for tech innovation to thrive, and opportunities to promote diversity, particularly inclusion of women in tech.”      

As announced in the evening, the winners of the 2018 Southern Africa Startup Awards are:  

Startup of the Year | Easy Equities - South Africa

Female Role Model in Tech | Lilian Makoi - Tanzania

Founder of the Year | Kennedy Liswani - Namibia

Best Startup Ecosystem Initiative - Simodisa - South Africa

Best Student Startup | EcOrganics - Mauritius

Best Social Impact Startup | Yapili - Botswana

Best Food/Agri Tech Startup | LimaLinks - Zambia

Investor of the Year | Lireas Holdings - South Africa

Best Accelerator/Incubator Programme | Startupbootcamp Afritech - South Africa

Best Co-Working Space | CoWorkLab - Mozambique

Best Newcomer | Intergreatme - South Africa

Best EduTech Startup | Kamaleon - Mozambique

Best Fintech Startup | Easy Equities - South Africa

Best Water Crisis Management Solution | Solve Namibia - Namibia

People's Choice | Lynette Hundermark - South Africa 

Six of the categories, including Startup of The Year, Best Newcomer, Founder of the Year, Best Startup Accelerator/Incubator, Best co-working Space and the People’s Choice are represented in the Global Startup Awards, which means winners will compete with winners in 6 other regions for the global accolade to be announced in 2019.

Attendees and finalists alike were treated to a nice surprise when Dave Romero, founder and CEO of CABAN Investments Ltd, which is in partnership with Southern Africa Startup Awards, announced a surprise prize for the winner of Startup of the Year, and for their best pick from the investor speed dating. The prize includes full capitalization and scaling to multiple territories in Africa and the UK.

Winners were also offered web services which includes Website design, hosting and managed services for 12 months to the value of R150 000 by Kaskade.Cloud.

The COO of Southern Africa Startup Awards, Flo Mosoane, added that “our aim is to create a platform and channel for effective relationship building in the startup ecosystem. We hope to have achieved that with this event”. “I attended lots of awards ceremonies and this was authentic and memorable in so many ways” Said Lynette Hundermark, the winner of the People’s Choice Award when asked about her experience.

In an emotional address, CEO of Southern Africa Startup Awards Mckevin Ayaba said “This would not be possible without the relentless efforts of the SASAWARDS Team but above all,  the collaboration with our amazing partners, Limit Breakers Global Foundation, Geekulcha, Silicon Cape, Caban Investments Ltd, Inventio, SAIS Programme, Network on SABC, ITWeb Africa, Tech In Africa, MAD Productions and Global Startup Awards”.       

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.

Eleven startups from across the African continent, identified as “entrepreneurs for humanity”, were awarded the opportunity to partner with the AfricArena challenge corporate sponsors at the end of the second AfricArena technology conference in Cape Town today.

Saturday 17 November, Cape Town – Amongst others, Air France KLM selected DiscoverIkasi and Sea Monster, both from South Africa, to assist with improving the travel experience and sustainability of its subsidiary Joon. Vinci Energie, will work with Senegal’s Oniriq and South Africa’s DataProphet on innovative energy solutions in Africa.

See the full list of winners, sponsors and challenges below.

During 2018, in the run up to AfricArena2018, 60 startups pitched their businesses in regional events in eight cities across Africa. Many of which were invited to take part in a series of challenges set by the AfricArena sponsors, all looking to solve uniquely African business problems.  

SOLUTIONS FOR THE AFRICAN MARKET

The AfricArena 2018 conference was anchored and endorsed by major international sponsors La French Tech, Silicon Cape, Vinci Energies, AirFrance KLM, Engie, Saint-Gobain, Methys, Rogerwilco, City of Cape Town, Proparco, RCS, and Leroy Merlin.

The following sponsors specifically came to South Africa and AfricArena to explore innovation opportunities within Africa and abroad: RCS, Saint-Gobain, AirFrance KLM, Vinci Energies, VivaTech, Leroy Merlin, Engie, Sanofi and FSAT Labs.

“We expect to have a different approach from these startups, a bright idea that could be easily implemented, and also to benefit from what is very high potential in terms of innovation and entrepreneurial initiatives. And to find solutions that are very well adapted to the African market,” said Jean-Michel Mathieu, CEO of Joon, a subsidiary of Air France.

“African entrepreneurs are very willing to find solutions, to take risks, they address vital expectations and needs, and they are looking at the challenges with a very frugal mindset. I think this is a lesson for us as well, we learn a lot working with them and collaborating with them to find the right solutions and we take this inspiration back to Europe with us,” said Lydia Babaci-Victor, Chief Innovation and Development Officer at Vinci Energies.

Vincent Viollain, co-Founder and Head of Partnerships and Startups at VivaTech, the biggest tech conference in Europe said: “The leapfrog ability of African technology has become a bit of a cliché. But when you get a chance to see it, you’ll see that it’s actually true. African technology is frugal, its smart and it can have an impact locally as well as globally. In our winner, Aerobotics’ case we believe the solution can move beyond physical borders, and also have application in different industry sectors.” 

AFRICARENA WINNERS:

The startups who won the challenges, were grateful of the experience and excited to be moving forward with some of the largest corporations across the globe.

“Oniriq provides access to African rural populations through energy and the internet. It’s great to be here at AfricArena, it has been a journey. For two months we’ve been participating in this challenge since the selection two months ago in Dakar with Vinci Energies team and we’ve been in discussions since. For us the win is a great achievement and we’re looking forward to starting our collaboration in Senegal,” said Rodolphe Rosier, Founder of Oniriq. 

“We’d like to thank AfricArena and VivaTech for the opportunity to present and we’re really happy to have won and we cannot wait to be in Paris in May. We’re already expanding around the world and this presence at VivaTech 2019 will give us a great opportunity to meet the European market,” said Nasreen Patel, Head of Product at Aerobotics. 

“This is not just a win for DiscoverIkasi, it’s a win for the communities we work with across South Africa. It’s going to give them a lot more exposure. This is what we’ve been working towards since starting the business, to get to a platform where I can market DiscoverIkasi, our market, our experiences and the townships on an international stage. Now we need to go back home and form a strategy to scale the business across South Africa,” said Ntsebenziswano (Benzi) November, Founder of DiscoverIkasi.

The startups attending the conference will also each be receiving credit from AWS as part of their prizes. Each startup in attendance, winner or not, will receive $2000 in AWS credit.  

A WORD FROM THE ECO-SYSTEM

Kerry Petrie, General Manager of Silicon Cape, host ecosystem of AfricArena, states: “It’s such an amazing opportunity for entrepreneurs from all across the continent to connect and share, building bridges that may hold future partnership, export and market opportunities. It builds the visibility of the pan-African community for a local, regional and global stakeholder audience. We have to work together to increase investment in African ventures from 1%. And AfricArena is playing a pivotal role in making that a reality.”

Reflecting on the event, Christophe Viarnaud, CEO of AfricArena, expanded on the philosophy behind the conference. “AfricArena’s open collaborative Pan-African model, highly inclusive and embarking all categories of investors, ecosystem contributors, and corporates focused on innovation in Africa, has demonstrated very high impact throughout 2018 with 16 events on 3 continents. The grand finale at AfricArena2018 has shown the energy and excitement from 15 corporates, over 150 investors and 70 startups, with over $2m deals being done, startup-corporate partnerships being struck and a wave of energy and innovation from African entrepreneurs. We could not be more excited about the future, comments Viarnaud.  

THE WINNERS:

Air France KLM Challenge 1                     DiscoverIkasi

Air France KLM Challenge 2                    Sea Monster

Engie Challenge                                           Arnegy

Leroy Merlin Challenge                             BizAR Reality

Saint-Gobain Challenge 1                         Swift GeoSpatial

Saint-Gobain Challenge 2                         The Student Hub

Sanofi South Africa Challenge                Iyeza Health

The RCS Group Challenge                        ThisIsMe

Vinci Energies Challenge 1                       Oniriq

Vinci Energies Challenge 2                       DataProphet

Vivatech 2019 Challenge                          Aerobotics 

SPONSORS AND THEIR CHALLENGES:

Air France KLM Challenge 1 – optimising the airline’s travel experience while reducing its environmental footprint

Air France KLM Challenge 2 – using technology to enrich subsidiary Joon’s travel experience for its passengers

Engie Challenge – ensuing a reliable energy supply in urban areas

Leroy Merlin Challenge – immersive showroom experience that shows off a large variety of products

Saint-Gobain Challenge 1 – using satellite trend analysis to predict urban and climate challenges

Saint-Gobain Challenge 2 -- a solution to upgrade professionals’ skills across Africa, especially in remote areas.

Sanofi South Africa Challenge – optimising patient treatment adherence and completion rates

The RCS Group Challenge – storing and securing customer identity and authentication credentials

Vinci Energies Challenge 1 – using digitalisation to optimise industry and energy performance

Vinci Energies Challenge 2 – How to make energy more accessible in Africa using technology such as energy efficiency flow solutions, energy flow optimisation, blockchain and artificial intelligence

Vivatech 2019 Challenge – using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate growth and sustainability in the agriculture sector 

-- ENDS --

For more information on AfricArena 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 AfricArena:

AfricArena is a conference that showcases Africa’s best startups and innovators in front of an audience of local and international investors looking for world-class talent.Celebrated as the largest tech ecosystem accelerator on the African continent, last year’s edition of AfricArena saw more than 80 startups presenting to over 100 investors with 25 countries being represented and over $2M worth of deals done. This year's edition saw 70 startups from 32 countries pitching to over 600 attendees. This year they are predicting that funding for African startups will crack US$1 billion. Earlier this year AfricArena launched a global tour to source the world's best tech innovators solving uniquely African problems, and the tour covered 66 000 kilometers in total. AfricArena is the ultimate deal-flow platform, bringing investors and startups together in one central location.

For more information visit: https://africarena2018.com