Non-profit organisation Silicon Cape has started free business training seminars, which aim to assist IT entrepreneurs build successful businesses.
The Silicon Cape Academy has kicked off monthly educational seminars featuring industry experts who provide entrepreneurs practical advice on how to run and grow their businesses. The Silicon Cape is an organisation that aims to promote the Western Cape as a hub for IT innovation and entrepreneurship.
Rob Stokes, chairman of the Silicon Cape, says the Academy is hosting industry professionals to speak on topics that matter to technology start-ups such as marketing, finance, human resources, funding options and how to pitch to a venture capitalist.
Stokes adds: “We believe that through this free initiative, we are delivering a valuable service to our community and helping more South African technology businesses succeed on a global scale.”
The Silicon Cape Academy has plans in place to expand its reach into SA by offering seminars to other regions such as Johannesburg. Stokes says: “To date, all of our voluntary speakers are locally-based.
“Our focus is on technology businesses that have the potential to take their products and services to the rest of the world. We need to show that these companies can be globally relevant using intellectual property based in SA.”
According to Stokes, skills development is still one of the biggest challenges in the local IT sector. In addition, the majority of IT companies demand work experience from new candidates and often university IT graduates struggle to find employment or don't know how to get funding to start their own businesses.
“The average failure rate of new start-ups in SA is about 95% and we want to reduce this figure. It's about inspiring people to start a business instead of going out to find a job,” adds Stokes. Interested entrepreneurs can register as a member of The Silicon Cape Academy here.
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