27dinner founder Dave Duarte at Frieda's on Bree. I Photo: HumanIPO
Originally started as the Geek Dinner in 2006 by Dave Duarte, the initaive now known as 27dinner grew when Cerebra founder Mike Stopforth partnered with Duarte to create the monthly opportunity to be inspired by guest speakers and network with other people in the media and tech business world.
“What is important is people need to start somewhere and let serendipity pass their way,” Duarte told HumanIPO at last night’s event at Frieda’s on Bree in Cape Town.
Duarte revealed he is busy working on plans for a new event to launch in April, also in Cape Town.
His experience at a global innovation awards event on February 14-15 in Paris, France, called United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) NetExplo Award for Technology, inspired an idea for a networking event with a difference.
The entrepreneur and digital educator explained he realised how “these extremely skilled innovators… made businesses together with trans-disciplinary collaborations”.
This new opportunity will be coffee-based, rather than revolving around dinner, and aims to include people from a variety of fields.
Duarte felt while there are a lot of great ideas there from “outstanding innovators”, business contacts and funding is needed, which these events can provide a platform for.
Plans are developing as Duarte collaborates with a number of different organisations, including UNESCO and universities.
The media and tech related business event 27dinner will be celebrating their sixth anniversary this year.
“I’m an educator, I like to turn people’s education lights on,” Duarte said.
Natalie Govender, organiser of the 27dinner, said: “We play around with venues, diversity of speakers and it’s not just about the business of tech but also fun, as we incorporated media and gaming.”
Govender explained a theme is selected for each monthly dinner according to which complementing speakers are selected.
“It became a hook-up place as lots of people [who met at the events] collaborated,” she said.
Taking place on the 27th of each month, the February dinner had a social media theme, featuring speakers of FanCam and Mxit.
Although aware of the Geek Girl Dinner initiative, Govender feels the events are not in competition as they cater for different crowds despite the common ground of tech.
