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Business Opportunities: A Guide to Growth

 OPPORTUNITIES ARE HERE šŸ“¬

August is a very busy month with LOTS OF OPPORTUNITIES (See the full list of Opportunities, Competitions and Business Support available this month). If you are in any of the following industries, there is something for YOU - manufacturing, film, waste management, biotech, e-health, agritech, financial services, internet safety OR if you are a youth or township-based entrepreneur!!++++ PLUS ++++Check out what's in store for the rest of #WOMENSMONTH2020 BELOW!!!! Be safe and take care!

***** APPLY! APPLY! APPLY ****

AUGUST Business Opportunities (Tech, Film, Manufacturing & MORE)!

ā€œDriving Force for Changeā€ Pilot Youth Support Initiative (YOUTH)Youth-led projects tackling the issues of climate change, waste management, biodiversity and ecosystems can apply to be funded by the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries. Swiss-South African Venture Leaders Programme (YOUTH)Entrepreneurs and innovators who are not older than 35 years old are invited to apply to be exposed to top South African and Swiss entrepreneurial expertise and market plus to participate at the SA Innovation Summit. '1000 Youth-Owned Enterprises in 100 days' (YOUTH, RURAL & TOWNSHIP)This is a grant, that aims to support businesses operated by young people in the township and rural economies to stimulate township-rural economies.

MORE INFO ON HOW TO APPLY HERE

 Scale-Out for Impact (SOFI) programme (ALL)SOFI aims to build partnerships between innovative UK small and medium enterprises and suitable South African innovators or enterprises, with the aim of co-creating new ventures based on inclusive business models for their products and services aimed at income poor consumers in townships and rural areas. Africa Online Safety Fund (ONLINE)The US$1 million initiative will be awarding grants to organisations that address one or more of the safety issues the internet facilitates. Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs Africa (FINANCIAL SERVICES, HEALTHCARE, THE SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE VALUE CHAIN, ETC.)This is a venture capital fund that is backed by a founding investment from the SA SME Fund. It specialises in supporting early-stage ventures in South Africa from very early stages (pre-series A) to scale-up.

MORE INFO ON HOW TO APPLY HERE

2020 ā€˜Venture Showcase - Seedā€™ (STARTUPS)VC4A in partnership with AWS Activate, AfriLabs and ABAN is calling for African startups looking to raise between $150K and $1M. Ten innovative early-stage startups will be selected to showcase their business to the world. Film and TV relief fund to help SA creatives (FILM & TV)The South African Screen Federation (SASFED), supported by the Independent Producers Organisation (IPO), announced the establishment of a COVID-19 film and television relief fund in collaboration with Netflix. IDC Small Industrial Finance Distress Fund (MANUFACTURERS, ASSEMBLERS AND OTHER VALUE-ADDED SERVICES)The R300-million Covid-19 Small Industrial Finance Distress Fund covers short-term operating costs to qualifying businesses across various industry sectors. Mentorship Marathon for both mentors and startups, initiated by 22onSloane (ALL)

MORE INFO ON HOW TO APPLY HERE

Business Competitions - Win Funding & Gain Exposure

MTN App of the Year Awards (TECH) - The MTN App of the Year Awards celebrates local talent and out-of-the-box thinkers.#AcerInstaPitch campaign (ALL) - Acer invites YOU to pitch your best business idea on Instagram. Share your best business idea on Instagram Stories in 10 frames or less, and you could win.AppsAfrica Innovation Awards (TECH) - The awards are open to corporates, established ventures or start-ups who have launched services in at least one African market across 14 categories.

MORE INFO ON HOW TO APPLY HERE

 Accelerator Programmes Open for Entrepreneurs 

#BUILDFORSDG CHALLENGE 2020 (TECH) - Facebook and Andela have partnered to up-skill developers across all countries in Africa through a seven weeks immersive program where selected developers will work as full-stack developers or in agile remote teams to innovate industry-led projects or SDGs.TuksNovationā€™s Incubation and Acceleration Programmes (BIOTECH, E-HEALTH, AGRITECH)TuksNovation invites all University of Pretoria and GIBS students, academic staff as well as alumni to pitch your start-up and stand a chance to join its incubation and acceleration programmes.

MORE INFO ON HOW TO APPLY HERE

IT'S WOMEN'S MONTH ON SME SOUTH AFRICA!

This August, SME South Africaā€™s ā€˜Breaking the Funding Glass Ceilingā€™ Series, sponsored by Nedbank,

 features women entrepreneurs and the funding opportunities that have helped them build Bankable, Scalable and Future-fit businesses. This week is PART 1 of our Round table with women entrepreneurs and VCs discussing how gender discrimination affects women seeking funding.

"Venture capitalists and financial providers do not view women-owned businesses seriously. Women get offered smaller amounts of financing or loans" - Irene Ochem, AWIEF

FIND ALL OUR Women's Month Coverage HERE 

++++ PLUS ++++COMING THIS WEEK

We are launching our DOWNLOADABLE Women Entrepreneurship & Funding Case Studies! 

DOWNLOAD & LEARN more about the funding journeys of local women entrepreneurs who are behind some of the countryā€™s most Bankable, Scalable and Future-fit businesses. The Featured Entrepreneurs:- Salamina Mosese  ā€“ SORELE MEDIA (Film & Media Production)- Stacey Brewer - SPARK SCHOOLS (Education)- Mukundi Lambani - AMBANI AFRICA (Edu-tech)- Tlalane Ntuli - YALU (Financial Services) WHAT'S INSIDE:- The strategies they used to secure funding.- The impact of business funding on their businessesā€™ growth.- How they navigated the challenges they faced during the application process.- Their advice for other female entrepreneurs. Follow us on INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, and TWITTER to be the first to find out when the case studies drop!!!!

SME Solutions - Let Us Guide You On Your Next Tech Purchase

Website Hosting and Domains 

Did You Know that a website can have a positive impact on a business outlook and reach? 67% of entrepreneurs who have a website expect to grow 25% in the next three years. 

Key benefits of a website include: helping you develop an online presence, helping you to target local customers, providing you with technical support, email and domains, security and data recovery to name a few. Budget around R200p.m for Ā± 20GB storage with SSL Certificate. There are some key features that you should consider when choosing a website hosting provider: 

  • Quality of the web hosting company 

  • Technical and client support 

  • Web hosting security 

  • E-commerce support features 

  • Shared vs. dedicated web hosting 

Top 5 products we recommend: 

  1. 1-Grid

  2. GoDaddy

  3. Bluehost 

  4. Afrihost 

  5. Stallion

Stuck on what website service to buy? Read our website hosting and domain review here