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Silicon Cape Initiative
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Silicon Cape Initiative
The Cape Silicon Initiative or Silicon Cape is a regional ICT business networking NPO and community in the Western Cape, South Africa.
The Silicon Cape Initiative is a private sector community movement that was founded by two South African high-tech entrepreneurs, Vinny Lingham and Justin Stanford. Both being entrepreneurs and angel investors in the information and communication technologies start-up sector in South Africa, they observed the unique confluence of circumstances emerging in their home country and in particular in the province of the Western Cape. The name Silicon Cape is based on the technological hub Silicon Valley in the United States San Francisco Bay Area. Whilst the Western Cape cannot be compared directly to Silicon Valley, it does possess some core organic elements which in its infancy, could be likened to that of Silicon Valley in California, USA.
Silicon Cape as a concept was officially launched to the public on October 8, 2009. Attendance at the event was greater than anticipated and a new, larger venue had to be sourced. At the event there were representatives from schools, universities, start-ups, big business, local and national government, NGOs, and the venture capital industry. Over a third of the audience was expected to be young IT entrepreneurs. The launch was circulated through social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. Speakers included Dr. Johann Rupert (chairman of luxury goods company Richemont), Dr. Mamphela Ramphele (chairperson of the Technology Innovation Agency), Helen Zille (premier of the Western Cape) and Matthew Buckland (internet entrepreneur, founder of Creative Spark and Memeburn) who was the event's MC. At the launch, The Silicon Cape Foundation non-profit entity was formed by a 10-seat community.
Silicon Cape is overseen by a 12-person steering committee.
The vision of the Silicon Cape is to be an organic ecosystem that functions in the Western Cape of South Africa. Its goal is to look to attract top technical talent and entrepreneurs to the Western Cape and to assist these parties in creating "world class" IP start-up companies in an environment that competes with other similar hubs around the world. Its ultimate goal is to help foster a high-technology district in the Western Cape.
The concept of the Silicon Cape is not owned or controlled by any single entity, and is a living concept of its participants. Any person globally is able to take advantage of the Silicon Cape network through the social networking platform of Silicon Cape.
Silicon Cape aims at assisting people with ICT ideas and entrepreneurs to avoid the many pitfalls associated with ICT start-ups in South Africa. Entrepreneurs in South Africa face many obstacles including access to finance, punishment for previous failure, lack of global experience, no liquidity events and others. The potential of entrepreneurs and I.T. visionaries for the African continent is starting to make an emergence and has been recognised, including by Brian Herlihy, the CEO of SEACOM who stated that the next “Google” could and should be coming out of Africa.
The Silicon Cape Initiative was very well received by the local community. Although there was no marketing budget or spend (the initiative was driven by word of mouth), the Silicon Cape received a large amount of press release from South Africa’s leading online publications. The following statistics were reported by 6 April 2010:
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Silicon Cape Initiative
The Cape Silicon Initiative or Silicon Cape is a regional ICT business networking NPO and community in the Western Cape, South Africa.
The Silicon Cape Initiative is a private sector community movement that was founded by two South African high-tech entrepreneurs, Vinny Lingham and Justin Stanford. Both being entrepreneurs and angel investors in the information and communication technologies start-up sector in South Africa, they observed the unique confluence of circumstances emerging in their home country and in particular in the province of the Western Cape. The name Silicon Cape is based on the technological hub Silicon Valley in the United States San Francisco Bay Area. Whilst the Western Cape cannot be compared directly to Silicon Valley, it does possess some core organic elements which in its infancy, could be likened to that of Silicon Valley in California, USA.
Silicon Cape as a concept was officially launched to the public on October 8, 2009. Attendance at the event was greater than anticipated and a new, larger venue had to be sourced. At the event there were representatives from schools, universities, start-ups, big business, local and national government, NGOs, and the venture capital industry. Over a third of the audience was expected to be young IT entrepreneurs. The launch was circulated through social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. Speakers included Dr. Johann Rupert (chairman of luxury goods company Richemont), Dr. Mamphela Ramphele (chairperson of the Technology Innovation Agency), Helen Zille (premier of the Western Cape) and Matthew Buckland (internet entrepreneur, founder of Creative Spark and Memeburn) who was the event's MC. At the launch, The Silicon Cape Foundation non-profit entity was formed by a 10-seat community.
Silicon Cape is overseen by a 12-person steering committee.
The vision of the Silicon Cape is to be an organic ecosystem that functions in the Western Cape of South Africa. Its goal is to look to attract top technical talent and entrepreneurs to the Western Cape and to assist these parties in creating "world class" IP start-up companies in an environment that competes with other similar hubs around the world. Its ultimate goal is to help foster a high-technology district in the Western Cape.
The concept of the Silicon Cape is not owned or controlled by any single entity, and is a living concept of its participants. Any person globally is able to take advantage of the Silicon Cape network through the social networking platform of Silicon Cape.
Silicon Cape aims at assisting people with ICT ideas and entrepreneurs to avoid the many pitfalls associated with ICT start-ups in South Africa. Entrepreneurs in South Africa face many obstacles including access to finance, punishment for previous failure, lack of global experience, no liquidity events and others. The potential of entrepreneurs and I.T. visionaries for the African continent is starting to make an emergence and has been recognised, including by Brian Herlihy, the CEO of SEACOM who stated that the next “Google” could and should be coming out of Africa.
The Silicon Cape Initiative was very well received by the local community. Although there was no marketing budget or spend (the initiative was driven by word of mouth), the Silicon Cape received a large amount of press release from South Africa’s leading online publications. The following statistics were reported by 6 April 2010: