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Hunt for disruptive retail tech ideas

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 13 Sept 2016
The contest is open to all aspiring entrepreneurs from student and non-student communities.
The contest is open to all aspiring entrepreneurs from student and non-student communities.

LaunchLab - a network of university business innovators - in partnership with investment firm, Attacq, has opened the Attacq Retail Ideas Programme Pitching Platform, which seeks disruptive innovations for the retail sector.

The challenge is open to participating campuses around the country: Stellenbosch University, University of Western Cape, University of Cape Town, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, University of Johannesburg, Wits University, University of KwaZulu-Natal and University of Pretoria.

The contest is open to all aspiring entrepreneurs from student and non-student communities, and runs until 23 September.

The platform allows aspiring and emerging tech entrepreneurs to pitch their retail business ideas and stand a chance of winning a share of R100 000 seed-funding and LaunchLab incubation support to the value of R150 000.

The final judging event will be hosted at the Nedbank Stellenbosch University LaunchLab in Stellenbosch on 19 October.

Participants can enter their business ideas by doing an informal three-minute video pitch with no digital presentations recorded at the various campuses, or can be submitted online. However, only one idea can win.

Attacq representatives, experienced entrepreneurs, academics and representatives from the local investor community have been selected as judges and will determine the winning ideas.

"We want to create opportunities that expose bright entrepreneurial minds. LaunchLab's pitching platform is a great platform for aspiring and emerging entrepreneurs to test the viability of their business ideas and to gain access to a valuable entrepreneurial network," says Philip Marais, CEO of LaunchLab.

LaunchLab and its programmes operate from the Nedbank Stellenbosch University LaunchLab building in Stellenbosch. The LaunchLab is an initiative of Innovus, the industry interaction and innovation company of Stellenbosch University, and is funded by Stellenbosch University, Nedbank and the Department of Trade and Industry.

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