Technology Top 100 (TT100) is calling on more black businesses to participate in the annual awards, while the Da Vinci Institute makes plans to entice black innovators to come on board.
The awards have been a stalwart of the industry, celebrating sustainable innovation among local businesses. However, primary sponsor, the Department of Science and Technology (DST), is disappointed with the lack of black entrepreneurial participation.
TT100 forms part of the Da Vinci group of organisations, which includes the Da Vinci Institute, a school specialising in the management of technology and innovation.
TT100 CEO Deirdre Marcus says the company is working on ways to encourage black businesses to get involved. She says one of the ways will be to bring in panel judges from venture capital businesses to provide a possible funding incentive.
Many companies, not just those with BEE credentials, are not entirely willing to get involved in the awards process, primarily because there is no money pot to win on the day of the awards, comments Marcus.
“Through bringing in a panel of venture capitalists, there may be an opportunity for the winners to have access to funding,” she explains. Marcus notes that the awards are currently more about prestige than getting a financial award.
Marcus says the organisation will also work closely with the DST to encourage locally owned black businesses to present their innovations to the panellists. TT100 hopes to get some money together to do some marketing around the awards and hopefully bring in the businesses it needs.
The Da Vinci Institute took science and technology minister Naledi Pandor on a road show of several of the awards entrants last week. “The tour was to show the minister what innovations we have growing in the country,” says Marcus.
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