Friday, November 22African Digital Business Magazine

Tag: Entrepreneurship

31Oct By Africa BusinessNo Comments
South Africa News

SA’s Social Entrepreneurs Need Support to Succeed

South Africa’s 141,500 social entrepreneurs are both solving the country’s most pressing problems and contributing to the economy in the process, with the creation of nearly 600,000 jobs and an estimated 76,000 more by 2030[i]. Sadly, however, approximately 70% say they struggle to raise funding due to a lack of networks[ii] and40% don’t even know what type of funding to raise[iii]. What’s more, their choice of business model could be impacting the amount of funding they raise[iv]. “These entrepreneurs need support and guidance if they are to succeed,” says Ashleigh Sibanda, Programme Manager: Business Incubation at business growth specialists Fetola. Together with FNB, Fetola has recently opened entries for the 2021 Social Entrepreneurship Impact Lab™(SEIL) Programme. Running for the se...
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18Aug By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Business, South Africa News

Entrepreneurs need to better understand risk and fail better by failing fast and forward

Are entrepreneurs risk takers at heart or calculated visionaries?  According to serial entrepreneur and Ukheshe Technologies CEO, Clayton Hayward, many entrepreneurs don’t truly understand the nature of risk, which has a direct impact on the success of their business idea. He says that to be a successful entrepreneur you need to be willing to take risks with a greater vision in mind – and become comfortable with the possibility of failure. Hayward, who has started more than 26 businesses since graduating in the early 90s, says that globally, managing risk is probably one of the biggest entrepreneurship obstacles: “It is important not to overthink, over strategise or over plan the launch of a business. Understand the nature of the risks involved and go for it. Too many entrepreneurs let ...
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24May By Africa BusinessNo Comments
South Africa News, Startups, Uganda News

Crasner Ventures backs ‘worker-first’ social network Umwuga for its second investment

London, UK, May 2021: Crasner Ventures, the early-stage venture capital investor that supports businesses led by female founders and entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, announces its investment in Umwuga Ltd, an emerging markets-focused social network that connects workers and employers. Umwuga is Crasner Ventures’ second portfolio company. Umwuga is revolutionising the recruitment industry in emerging markets, by enabling workers to connect and communicate on their own terms, showcase their abilities, experience and personality and engage and negotiate directly with prospective employers. The platform opens up employment opportunities to those often excluded by a recruitment industry and social networks designed predominately for white-collar workers. It also helps employers by giving...
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11May By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Events, Startups

The Legatum Center for Development & Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) launches the inaugural Legatum Foundry Fellowship for entrepreneurs in Africa

Fellowship applications open on May 3, 2021 for entrepreneurs working and living in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal. The Legatum Center for Development & Entrepreneurship at MIT has launched the Foundry Fellowship, a first-of-its-kind leadership program for accomplished entrepreneurs who are considering their role in shaping the future of the African innovation ecosystems in which they work and live. At an inflection point in their entrepreneurial journeys, Fellows will learn from MIT faculty, connect with investors, and expand their network of peer innovators. The Fellowship is open to entrepreneurs working and living in Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, and Senegal. Building on the MIT ethos of Mens et Manus (Mind and Hand), the Foundry is ...
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5May By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Business, Events, South Africa News

Post-Covid recovery depends on a positive SME mindset

#StandardBankSMESummit  With more than 90% of South African SME’s having experienced revenue drops since April 2020 and with many businesses being left vulnerable, the need to support and boost South Africa’s SME sector which currently provides formal jobs for 28% of the population must be prioritised.  This support is not just financial, but psychological as well. “Where people need to innovate and create their own jobs to sustain themselves and provide occupation and income for others, we need to provide the psychological tools to support those with ambition.  We cannot allow innovators and entrepreneurs to give up on their dreams and visions at this critical time,”  says Deenash Pillay, Head of Enterprise Banking Propositions at Standard Bank, ahead of the Standard Bank SME Summit which...
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5May By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Business, South Africa News

Digital Nomad Boom sees E-Residency Launch New Digital ID Card Collection Points Worldwide

Aspiring e-Residents can now collect their digital identity cards from offices in Brazil, South Africa, Singapore and Thailand 05 May 2021: The Estonian government’s e-Residency programme, pioneer of the world’s first digital residency initiative, has today announced the launch of four new international ‘pick-up points’ across three continents to accommodate for the increase in digital nomads as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Johannesburg in South Africa has been chosen as one of four new global destinations to meet rising demands from local entrepreneurs that are seeking to scale their businesses internationally and expand into the European market. As the epicentre for an 80,000-strong network of digital nomads, today’s announcement demonstrates Estonia’s continued...
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Afrikrea Launches ANKA to Power Global African E-Commerce
28Apr By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Business, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Afrikrea Launches ANKA to Power Global African E-Commerce

Ivorian company partners with DHL and Visa and builds SaaS Platform for omnichannel global selling for African micro retailers Afrikrea, the e-commerce platform for “all things made of Africa”, is launching ANKA - an all-in one SaaS solution to provide a seamless ecommerce, payments and global shipping online service for thousands of micro retailers and businesses on the continent and around the world, as it continues to power e-commerce for Africa. Launched to coincide with Afrikrea’s fifth anniversary of operations, ANKA (meaning “Ours” in Bambara and Djoula) allows merchants to easily: Sell via a customised online storefront (like Shopify), social media platforms or by links such as on Gumroad and also the Afrikrea marketplace. This is carried out via an omnichannel dashboard with ...
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7Apr By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Kenya News, Somaliland

WorldRemit founder Ismail Ahmed launches Sahamiye Foundation to tackle Somaliland’s development challenges and unlock entrepreneurial potential

Ismail Ahmed will seek to commit $500 million of his own wealth and investments over the next 10 years to Somaliland-focused development programmes. Sahamiye Foundation will aim to double Somaliland’s literacy rate to 90% by 2023. A team led by WorldRemit founder Ismail Ahmed has today launched Sahamiye Foundation, a philanthropic organisation focused on using technology and innovation to tackle Somaliland’s most pressing development challenges. Over the next 10 years, Ismail Ahmed’s ambition is to be able to commit $500 million of his own wealth and investments to Somaliland-focused development programmes. The Foundation, based in London and Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital, will initially focus on education, healthcare and infrastructure projects across Somaliland. The Foundation seeks...
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28Mar By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Events

Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Africa Webinar Series 

The Africa Centre in collaboration with Learning Connected presents a webinar series on sustainable entrepreneurship in Africa from 12-15 April 2021. The series of live, interactive webinars explore Africa-focused sustainable development challenges, practical solutions, case studies as well as emerging trends and opportunities through interactive presentations and discussions.  By connecting entrepreneurs, students, educators, makers, researchers and industry experts, the webinar series provides a platform for the exchange of knowledge to catalyse new partnerships and drive practical actions for sustainable development in Africa. 18 leading entrepreneurs working in 12 African countries will share the impact of their enterprises in solving challenges in IT, economy and employment, education...
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9Mar By Africa BusinessNo Comments
Events, Kenya News, Medicine, South Africa News, Startups

Announcing Winners of the 8th Edition of the Sankalp Africa Summit Awards

Over 1,200 delegates virtually convened for the 3-Day summit on ‘A Resilient Africa - Forging Solutions for the Impact Economy’ Sankalp Forum, an initiative of Intellecap hosted its 8th Edition of the Sankalp Africa Summit, in a virtual format, from the 2nd to 4th March 2021, one of Africa’s largest inclusive networking platform focusing on entrepreneurship and the impact investing ecosystem. Some of the key highlights of the summit include the awarding of the top three most innovative young entrepreneurs in Africa and sharing of sector insights on, rebuilding a resilient universally accessible health system capable of rapidly detecting, assessing, reporting; rebuilding robust local institutions in Africa to attain globally competitive levels post Covid-19; and eliminating social and econo...
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