This November, Global Entrepreneurship Network will celebrate 15 years of helping millions of people unleash their ideas to start and scale new businesses through Global Entrepreneurship Week. The campaign began in 2008 with an emphasis on inspiring young people to make their mark and has quickly grown to become a comprehensive effort that engages entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, researchers, support organizations and others collaborating to advance economic growth and innovation in more than 180+ countries around the world.
Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) will rally almost every nation in the world to empower entrepreneurs and encourage citizens to become starters – finding new and better ways of doing things. In the wake of the pandemic and its impact, GEW 2022 is also a call to action for societies to be resilient and come together in leveraging the power of new ideas and innovation for the benefit of all.
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SMME Awards & Summit
13 -15 November 2022
The Department of Small Business Development will be hosting the Inaugural National Presidential SMME Awards which will serve in the department’s endeavours of cultivating an enabling environment for the development; and nurturing of innovative ideas and best practice across the whole spectrum of small business development in the country. The Inaugural National Presidential SMME Awards will take place on the 13th of November and will serve as a platform to launch the annual Global Entrepreneurship Week.
The awards is scheduled for Sunday 13th November, while the SMME summit is scheduled for 14-15 November. The SMME summit aims to bring key ecosystem players together to advance support for SMMEs and Cooperatives.
The SMME awards seek to achieve the following objectives:
To promote entrepreneurial activities through identifying, showcasing, and recognising innovative SMMEs, cooperatives and ecosystem enablers who have displayed excellence in various areas.
To recognise SMMEs, cooperatives and ecosystem enablers making a significant contribution towards sustainable businesses that are creating value in the economy.
To provide a catalyst for the creation of development initiatives for SMMEs and cooperatives that will be widely recognised.
To recognise outstanding performance, skills, and innovation positively impacting on the GDP of our country.
GEC+ Africa 2023 Media Briefing
14 November 2022
22 On Sloane in partnership with GEN Africa will be hosting the Global Entrepreneurship Congress Africa (GEC+Africa) on the 13th and 14th of September 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).
With over 1500 delegates expected, GEC+Africa is a gathering of entrepreneurs and leaders from more than 50 African nations committed to advancing entrepreneurial activity throughout their own countries. The Congress will include other international thought leaders and practitioners globally who have become a part of the Global Entrepreneurship Network’s (GEN) global movement that advances entrepreneurship as a means of building economies and expanding human welfare.
The key objectives for GEC+Africa 2023 are the following:
Support the development of innovative startups in Africa and ensure their scale.
Create an enabling environment for African startups to create jobs.
Create market linkages between Corporate and African startups.
Support the development of credible global investor pipeline that will invest in African startups
Establish a strong GEN in each African country thereby building and strengthening GEN Africa
22 On Sloane Demo Day
14 November 2022
As part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) this November 22 On Sloane will be hosting its first Demo Day. In spirit of the theme “Celebrating Milestones”, there will be a showcase of all the milestones achieved in the past 5 years at 22 On Sloane. All the startups and SMMEs that have been supported through our programmes during the year along with the networks 22 On Sloane has to offer, will be given a chance to exhibit and showcase their products and services to investors, corporate sponsors and other ecosystem stakeholders.
Demo day will provide a platform for the entrepreneurs to demonstrate how the programmes have made an impact to their businesses. This platform will also provide an intimate space for active and accredited investors to have conversations with startups and SMMEs supported by 22 On Sloane present on the day.
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Key Objectives
+ To showcase all milestones achieved in supporting startups and SMMEs since the inception of 22 On Sloane
+ To showcase 22 On Sloane Programme participants’ and campus residents’ products and services
+ Startups and SMMEs in the 22 On Sloane internal and partner programmes to demonstrate the impact the programmes have had on their businesses
+ To encourage programme sponsors to support more entrepreneurs through capacity building programmes.
22 On Sloane Pitching Day
17 November 2022
As part of its activities during the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) this November, 22 On Sloane will be hosting its first annual Pitch Day.
The Pitch Day aims to bring in startups from across the continent to apply to be part of the 22 On Sloane Catalytic programme. The applications will be open to any tech enabled business with a minimum viable product (MVP), that is pre-seed and pre or post revenue. Applicants from all sectors are welcome. Once successful in the 3-stage application process, the applicants will be onboarded into the Catalytic programme. There, they will receive a cash seed injection of USD10k which will be unlocked at each programme milestone achieved. The top 5 performing candidates will receive a further USD50k investment for the duration of the programme.
The Selection criteria will be as follows:
- The candidates should have a minimum viable product (MVP)
- Team can be comprised of at least two of the following skill sets:
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- Commercial skills – Ability of the team to detail the solution/product’s target market and how it can generate revenue
- Technical skills – Ability of the team to detail and build the technology behind the solution/product
- Operational skills – Ability to map out key activities of the business in line with business objectives and goals
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- The value proposition (VP) must solve for customer pains (the problem) while providing benefit.
- Founders should be coachable; they must have willingness to learn and take guidance from the team as you build on your MVP
- The product/solution must address a clear and big enough problem in the market it is targeting
- Intellectual Property should be owned by the startup
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Objectives of the pitch day are as follows:
+ To showcase 22 On Sloane Programme participants’ and campus residents’ products and services
+ The pitch day will serve as a platform for the final selection process for the Accelerator Programme participants for 2023.
+ To evaluate the ideas and products in the startup ecosystem
+ To interview potential candidates and their team members while screening them against the accelerator entry criteria.
SMME Policy Hackathon
16 November 2022
The Policy Hack concept is focused on real policy challenges, actual implementation and impact. Results produced from the hac k should be tested in an identified area. For participants, the benefits of a Policy Hack are collaboration and validation. This process gathers together startup ecosystem representatives, which includes the participation of entrepreneurs to “hack” a specific policy solution in response to identi fied challenge in the ecosystem. The Policy Hack further allows entrepreneur-support organisations to create a forum for dialogue between startups, policymakers, investors and regulators.
This Policy Hackathon will follow our 2nd annual Partner Dialogue which will be held in October 2022. The Partner Dialogue is focused on finding solutions to unlocking the potential of SMMEs/Startups so they can play a role in rebooting the economy in the post-pandemic era and fostering policies that create a conducive environment for them to thrive. The Dialogue will include stakeholders from corporate, the public sector, the sta rt-up and SMME community, researchers, and other interested parties.
GEW HACKATHON
18-20 November 2022
The GEW Hackathon aims to bring in startups, developers, strategists, and thinkers to explore Digital opportunities and help solve pressing problems faced by large corporates and startups in key industry sectors. The Hackathon will focus on five key sectors: Education, Financial services, Gaming, Health, and Services.
A total cash prize of R500k will be awarded and each winner will receive R100k each. There is no guarantee that each sector will have a winner. It is plausible that a particular sector could have more than one winner, while another sector fails to secure a win.
Hackathon winners have an opportunity to join 22 On Sloane’s Catalytic (Accelerator) Programme where they can access up to R750k in funding (subject to terms and conditions).