Non-profit tech entrepreneurship organisation Silicon Cape is taking eleven entrepreneurs to London this week in order to introduce them to funders, mentors, partners and peers.
The trip is taking place in partnership with the Western Cape Provincial Government and the South African Chamber in the United Kingdom.
Silicon Cape is a volunteer organisation looking to promote collaboration between entrepreneurs, developers and investors. The eleven entrepreneurs were chosen from applicants from the 6,000-strong Silicon Cape community.
“The objective of this trip is simply to give the eleven businesses attending access to people, information and experience that will make their companies even more successful,” says Rob Stokes, chairman of the Silicon Cape Initiative.
The companies that will be going to London include content redistribution suite Afrozaar, spend management software Fraxion, online PFM took Moneysmart and hosting, connectivity and cloud solutions firm RSA Web.
Some of the key meetings to take place include the companies pitching to Pemjot Valia and Mambo Mentors, and meeting with Deloitte, Standard Bank, Blackberry and Google. They will be attending various networking functions and visit Tech City and the Oxygen Acceleration Innovation Lab.
“We hope that this trade mission will be the first of many from Silicon Cape. It’s important that we expand our networks and knowledge beyond the borders of South Africa and even Africa,” said Rob Gilmour of Silicon Cape.
“We have utilized our network in the UK to get our local business leaders in front of people who are keen to do business with IT companies in the Western Cape. There is a full itinerary of investors, mentors, entrepreneurs, acceleration and innovation labs and we have even managed to fit in tickets to Rugby at Twickenham.”
Roger Norton, coordinator at Silicon Cape, said that the trip offered South African companies the chanced to demonstrate their innovations to an international audience.
“It is a great opportunity to showcase what South Africa has to offer to international investors and the world,” he said. “In the last three years there has a marked increase in activity of startups and entrepreneurs in the Western Cape, that no one has yet to justify but that no one can deny.
“Although we are still a very young technology hub and believe that we have a long road ahead, it is paramount that we continue to create these opportunities and are very thankful for the governments support in this particular case.”
