Despite indications in the media of unrest and protests at universities across the country, we are excited with the entrepreneurial development that is happening in the Western Cape.
Even though the Nedbank Stellenbosch University LaunchLab is based at a tertiary institution, the majority of entrepreneurs whom it assists are not students. However, tertiary institutions provide a platform and network for entrepreneurial development to launch from. From this platform and network, we run our bi-annual Ideas Programme.
On 19 May we concluded our first Ideas Programme for 2016. This also marked a milestone for the LaunchLab as the first breakthrough innovation Ideas Programme for a client seeking to source disruptive ideas from the startup community in the Western Cape, was completed. This first programme formally kicked off with a workshop being hosted with MultiChoice on 3 March, 2016. A MultiChoice Team presented the challenges facing the video entertainment industry, to an audience of more than 50 people. The MultiChoice Team was blatantly candid about the challenges facing the industry, This allowed for meaningful engagement with the community and enabled the sourcing of quality business ideas.
In addition to this, we received input from various companies on our other focus verticals. Nedbank provided insight into Fintech & amp; Big Data, Pearson on Education, WastePlan on Cleantech and Invenfin Foods on Agritech & Food. After 4 weeks of extending the challenges in and around the Western Cape, we started receiving pitches in person and online in the first week of April 2016.
This was supported by participating institutions around the Western Cape: Stellenbosch University (SU); University of the Western Cape (UWC); University of Cape Town (UCT); the South African School of Motion Picture and Performance (AFDA) as well as the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College and False Bay College (FBC). Working with MultiChoice 10 new business ideas ranging from local video content production to spatial demographic representations were selected to participate in a final pitching event on 18 May 2016.
The top three new business ideas received seed funding and sponsored incubation support from MultiChoice and the LaunchLab, and they were:
NumberBoost – R50000 allocated
Mediatisers -R30000 allocated
EightStreet Stories – R20000 allocated
In addition to this exclusive MultiChoice event, a General Final was held featuring another 11 business ideas. Here 5 winners were selected:
NewsForce – received R30000
Sxuirrel – received R20000
Britecap, MyGrow and Scryo – received R10000
A few of the winning pitches have been posted on the LaunchLab YouTube channel and by viewing these pitches you will be able to form a better idea of the nature of their particular businesses.(Please note that a few the winners have requested that their business pitches may not be shared publicly). day. We are grateful to Nedbank, Stellenbosch University, the DTI, MultiChoice and Alchemy-A for empowering us to accelerate entrepreneurs to a new level and we are encouraged by our daily interaction with these inspiring entrepreneurs.
The post Ideas Programme Highlights appeared first on LaunchLab.