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Microsoft South Africa has launched Head Start – a support programme that will provide local tech startups with access to skills development resources, mentors, a fully-fledged customer network, and the platform on which to build their products and services.

Head Start is a complete programme to help tech startups innovate in the Azure cloud while strengthening the local startup system and preparing them to sell to the global marketplace. South African entrepreneurs that want to take their tech business to the next level can register and join the Microsoft South Africa Head Start programme here.

“As a company whose mission it is to empower every person and organisation on the planet to achieve more, we get how critical entrepreneurship is, especially in the South African context where job creation is vital if we are to improve our economy,” said Lionel Moyal, commercial partners lead at Microsoft South Africa.

“We want to give as much support to tech startups as we can to make South Africa more globally competitive, and create jobs, but, if we don’t have skilled South Africans to fill these jobs it will be at a loss. Many of these amazing opportunities run the risk of being lost in the country due to the current skills gap that exists, which we’re working hard to close.”

The Head Start programme offers direct access to coaches and mentors, with over 50 Microsoft South Africa staff volunteering to mentor. Candidates can schedule a one-hour meeting with various business experts from multiple fields across the business, and get one-on-one expert advice.

When candidates join the Microsoft Partner Network, they instantly become part of a global community that connects them to the relationships, insights, tools, resources, and programmes needed to drive growth. They also get direct access to digital coaching and training, and live events.

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Microsoft South Africa has launched Head Start – a support programme that will provide local tech startups with access to skills development resources, mentors, a fully-fledged customer network, and the platform on which to build their products and services.

Head Start is a complete programme to help tech startups innovate in the Azure cloud while strengthening the local startup system and preparing them to sell to the global marketplace. South African entrepreneurs that want to take their tech business to the next level can register and join the Microsoft South Africa Head Start programme here.

“As a company whose mission it is to empower every person and organisation on the planet to achieve more, we get how critical entrepreneurship is, especially in the South African context where job creation is vital if we are to improve our economy,” said Lionel Moyal, commercial partners lead at Microsoft South Africa.

“We want to give as much support to tech startups as we can to make South Africa more globally competitive, and create jobs, but, if we don’t have skilled South Africans to fill these jobs it will be at a loss. Many of these amazing opportunities run the risk of being lost in the country due to the current skills gap that exists, which we’re working hard to close.”

The Head Start programme offers direct access to coaches and mentors, with over 50 Microsoft South Africa staff volunteering to mentor. Candidates can schedule a one-hour meeting with various business experts from multiple fields across the business, and get one-on-one expert advice.

When candidates join the Microsoft Partner Network, they instantly become part of a global community that connects them to the relationships, insights, tools, resources, and programmes needed to drive growth. They also get direct access to digital coaching and training, and live events.

The post Microsoft launches Head Start programme for SA startups appeared first on Disrupt Africa.

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A host of African startups were named among the winners at the annual AppsAfrica Awards in Cape Town last night, booking their slots at the Africa Tech Summit in Kigali in February of next year.

Now in their fourth year, the awards celebrate the best in African mobile and tech from both corporates and startups, and this year attracted entries from 39 countries across the continent.

In all, 14 winners were announced at the annual awards party after the applications were assessed and judged by an independent panel of industry experts.

Best Enterprise Solution went to Kobo360 of Nigeria, while the Social Impact Award was won by South Africa’s WeThinkCode_. Uganda’s SafeBoda won the Best African App category, with the Disruptive Innovation Award secured by Nala from Tanzania.

Kenya’s Baobab Circle won the Best HealthTech Solution award, Best AgriTech Solution went to Nigeria’s Farmcrowdy, and the Best Blockchain Solution category was won by Custos Media Technologies.

Having picked up an award, this year’s winners are invited to Africa Tech Summit in Kigali in February, wich will connect over 400 corporates, startups and investors from across Africa.

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South African startup Kuba is simplifying procurement for corporate entities and individuals looking to work with small businesses via its digital platform.

Founded early last year by Jacques Sibomana, Kuba enables large companies and private individuals to diversify their supplier pool and support small enterprises by listing vendors on its platform, facilitating transactions and making paper trails accessible.

The startup’s platform delivers vetted contracting opportunities across industries and services such as welding, carpentry and accounting, at the same time allowing vendors to a professionalise their offering to include polished quoting and invoicing as well as the empirical credibility of past transactions needed to trade with a large corporate entity.

Since its launch, Kuba has attracted over 500 small businesses and vendors to its platform, accessing new opportunities with more than 200 active users. Since inception, more than 100 income-generating opportunities have been created through Kuba, and over 800 transactions have taken place.

“Kuba grew from a project that I ran called the Informal Traders Consultancy. Its main goal was to develop the next generation informal trader in Africa, providing products and services that informal traders need to trade better and smarter,” Sibomana told Disrupt Africa.

“From this project I released that the biggest challenge for small businesses, especially those operating in informal communities, was access to market.”

So he built Kuba, with the aim of making small businesses more visible for those looking for their services.

“The African economy depends highly on informal businesses. Even though they receive less attention and support, this market is getting even bigger,” Sibomana said.

The self-funded Kuba has done a good job of accessing this market so far, and currently has at least one small business listed in every province of South Africa, charging users on a pay-as-they-use or subscription basis.

“Kuba has been well received both by small business owners as well as large corporates, with clients such as Bertha Centre, Old Mutual and Social Places all using Kuba to find small businesses nearest to them. We have connected plumbers from Dunoon township to clients in Durbanville and Stellenbosch. We have seen a small business in Khayelitsha doing jobs in affluent suburbs, but our biggest takeaway has been seeing these small businesses growing and using our tech to trade with each other,” said Sibomana.

“We are looking to expand our reach in South Africa and become the software of choice for these small business owners. We are also exploring other African markets, with an eye on West Africa, and also India.”

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Food-ordering startup MyFoodness has been named winner of the Botswanan leg of the global Seedstars competition, securing a place at the global final and the chance to pitch for US$1 million in equity investment.

Global early-stage startups competition Seedstars has already picked African winners in Egypt, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Ghana, Rwanda, Libya, Uganda, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Angola, Nigeria and Cameroon, and held its event in Gaborone on November 9.

The local winner was MyFoodness, which is leveraging mobile internet penetration to help people fulfill everyday ordering needs in southern Africa. The startup will now participate at the Seedstars Summit in Switzerland in April 2019, where it will take part in a week-long training programme and stand the chance of pitching for up to US$1 million in equity investment and other prizes.

Ten startups at the Gaborone final in front of a local jury.

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Food-ordering startup MyFoodness has been named winner of the Botswanan leg of the global Seedstars competition, securing a place at the global final and the chance to pitch for US$1 million in equity investment.

Global early-stage startups competition Seedstars has already picked African winners in Egypt, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Ghana, Rwanda, Libya, Uganda, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Angola, Nigeria and Cameroon, and held its event in Gaborone on November 9.

The local winner was MyFoodness, which is leveraging mobile internet penetration to help people fulfill everyday ordering needs in southern Africa. The startup will now participate at the Seedstars Summit in Switzerland in April 2019, where it will take part in a week-long training programme and stand the chance of pitching for up to US$1 million in equity investment and other prizes.

Ten startups at the Gaborone final in front of a local jury.

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The World Bank Group has launched Francophone Africa-focused accelerator programme Afrique Excelle, aimed at supporting scalable tech ventures in the late seed or pre-Series A stage.

Launched yesterday at the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit in Cape Town, Afrique Excelle is an initiative of the World Bank Group, implemented by a consortium of VC4A, Suguba and SahelInnov.

It is a post-accelerator programme designed to support scalable technology ventures in the late seed or pre-Series A stage, that are well-positioned for growth in their domestic market and for cross-border expansion and looking to raise between US$250,000 and US$5 million.

The six-month programme will kick off with a one-week residency in Bamako, Mali in March, and culminate with the final venture showcase at VivaTech 2019, part of the one-week residency in Paris in May.

Afrique Excelle is the Francophone edition of the XL Africa accelerator implemented by the World Bank in 2017, which saw 19 out of 20 portfolio companies secure Series A investment. Both programmes offer help in securing capital as well as access to a tailormade curriculum and the chance to receive mentoring from global and local experts.

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Attendees at the pan-African tech conference AfricaCom, which begins in Cape Town today, can find dedicated startup and entrepreneurship content at the AHUB.

Taking place in Cape Town over the next three days, AfricaCom is bringing together 14,000 attendees, 450 speakers and 400 exhibitors showcasing various technologies and solutions.

In partnership with leading accelerators and innovation hubs, the AHUB programme is designed to highlight the critical role of entrepreneurship in fuelling Africa’s digital economy and connect African tech startups and scale-ups to investors and corporate partners.

The programme features keynotes and panel discussions on topics such as investing in African tech startups, Francophone African startup ecosystems, building links between academic institutions and entrepreneurs, opportunities in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, and building synergies between mobile operators and startups.

Speakers include Chanzo Capital managing partner Eric Osiakwan, Knife Capital co-managing partner Andrea Böhmert, LaunchLab head of incubation Brandon Paschal, GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator head Max Cuvellier, and Startupbootcamp AfriTech CEO Philip Kiracofe.

A host of startups will also be pitching over the course of the week, including the eight growth-stage companies taking part in the VC4A Venture Showcase – Series A, and Kenyan agri-tech startup Taimba, winner of the Disrupt Africa Live Pitch Competition at the East Africa Com event in Nairobi back in May.

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Creating value for customers is the key to success for African startups and their investors alike, according to panelists at the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit (AESIS).

The fifth annual AESIS took place in Cape Town yesterday, bringing together the continent’s early-stage investor community to exchange best practices, learn from peers and recent transactions, and do deals.

Panelists discussing the best venture capital (VC) investment models for African markets agreed efforts to replicate Silicon Valley’s quest for unicorns are misguided, suggesting rather that value creation for customers is the key to making good business and investment decisions.

“It’s a mistake to emulate Silicon Valley.  We have our own situation here on the continent, and there’s no point in trying to copy-paste,” said Adedana Ashebir, regional manager for Africa at Village Capital.

“The point is providing value.  If you can provide value, you can make returns,” Wale Ayeni, regional head for Africa of VC investments at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) said.

“A lot of time, people come to us with business models or plans that don’t understand the demographic [of the mass market in Africa]… [Startups] have to touch the lives of the majority of the population.”

Manuel Koser, co-founder and managing director (MD) of South Africa’s Silvertree Internet Holdings, said the complexities of valuing a tech venture and the volatile market they operate in, as well as the early stages of investment markets in Africa combine to make the quest for an African unicorn misguided.

“Actually what matters is, do you solve a problem?  Do you customers love your product?” – if the answer to these is yes, Koser says, a startup has the basis to scale and be successful.

Startups looking to fundraise US$1 billion spend so much time on fundraising, Koser adds, that they can’t possibly be focused on building outstanding products.

“You can build an amazing company, with realistic targets and solve customers’ problems – that’s incredible.”

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Global travel and accommodation marketplace Booking.com is inviting startups from across the world working in the space of sustainable travel to apply for support from its EUR2 million (US$2.3 million) fund.

Booking.com has opened applications for the third edition of its Booking Booster Programme, which will select 10 social enterprise startups in the sustainable tourism sector that are ready to scale to participate in a three-week accelerator programme in Amsterdam in May 2019.

The programme will consist of a series of lectures, hands-on workshops and coaching sessions, culminating in a final pitch to receive a grant of up to EUR500,000 (US$570,000) from Booking.com’s EUR2 million fund in order to help support their next stage of growth.

All of the startups will also receive a full year of ongoing mentoring and coaching from Booking.com experts, as well as opportunities to collaborate with Booking.com on potential innovation initiatives and experiments to help accelerate their future growth.

“Going into the programme’s third year, we are increasingly impressed with the amazing entrepreneurial spirit of the startups who apply for Booking Booster and the inspiring innovations they are developing in key areas related to tourism dispersal, creating new economic opportunities for women, promoting inclusive growth for under-resourced communities and developing cutting-edge technical solutions that help keep destinations happy and healthy in every corner of the globe,” said Gillian Tans, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Booking.com.

Applications close on December 2.

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