The SAB Foundation has opened applications for its ninth annual Social Innovation Awards, as well as the fourth annual Disability Empowerment Awards. In this year’s awards, the SAB Foundation will hand out a total of R12-million in prize money. Winners will receive prizes ranging between R200 000 and R1.3-million. The SAB Foundation finds, supports and scales social innovations – through...
Biotech is increasingly seen as a solution for global challenges in health, food, agriculture, and the environment; as well as a driver of economic development and diversification. Falling costs of performing life sciences research mean that biotech is no longer reserved for large corporations, universities and government organisations. Cape Town based biotech incubator OneBio has opened applications for...
A number of regulatory changes took place in South Africa in 2018, impacting a variety of sectors and that to varying degrees speak to the rule of law. LexisNexis South Africa, a provider of business and legal research services, outlined how seven of these regulatory changes will impact the rule of law in 2019. Read more: BusinessTech...
SA tech startups and those in the country’s startup scene say the once dreaded exchange control is less of an obstacle than in previous years, startup advocacy body Simodisa revealed in a policy report released today. Yet while 27% of the 247 startups and those support startups who were surveyed in Simodisa’s latest industry report released today (31 January)...
The new year is here, 2019 is here. Why not get started by following and connecting with some key decision makers in the SA tech scene. Here are 10 people — from entrepreneur and investor Michael Jordaan to Matsi Modise, the head of startup advocacy body Simodisa — that you should follow to keep abreast on views and...
Better times could be on the way and this will impact which sectors South African entrepreneurs choose to enter. This is according Byron Jeacocks, regional general manager at Business Partners Limited. “The GDP data for the third quarter of 2018, recently released by Statistics South Africa, revealed that the economy has grown by 2.2 percent, quarter on...
Gauteng is now home to 55% of tech startup founders — ahead of the Western Cape’s 37%. In all, 36% of Western Cape startups report turning a profit or generating significant revenue, compared to 22% in Gauteng. The percentage of black tech startups has risen from 26% in 2015, to 56% this year. Just seven...
In recent years the South African government has identified small and medium-sized entities (“SMEs”) as a major contributor to future economic growth. One of the main challenges to the economic growth of SMEs is access to equity finance. To assist these sectors in terms of equity finance, in 2009, the South African government implemented...
It is widely known that startups and scale-ups create the vast majority of jobs in the formal economy, providing, on average, 66% of jobs worldwide and the greatest share of jobs in low-income countries like South Africa. Giving thanks to early stage business’ outstanding capacity to increase productivity through innovation, these SME enterprises are...
Cape Town-based incubator and accelerator French South African Tech Labs (FSAT Labs) has opened calls for applications to its third class of entrepreneurs, with applications set to close on November 8th 2018. The programme aims to help the selected entrepreneurs turn their ideas into minimum viable products and ultimately sustainable businesses. FSAT Labs particularly focuses...
