Leading African entertainment company MultiChoice Group has collaborated with South Africa’s Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, Galelo Africa and UAE-based social enterprise Companies Creating Change (C3) to support the growth and development of SMMEs in South Africa through the MultiChoice Accelerator programme.
The programme forms part of the MultiChoice Innovation Fund aiming to connect companies with global investors to unlock business opportunities that will enrich their lives, the communities in which they function and the South African economy at large. Starting with 20 companies, six have been shortlisted.
Global investors participating on a panel today comprise of representation from some of the UAE’s leading investor and venture capitalists including Middle East Venture Partners and WAMDA Capital.
“With high unemployment rates in South Africa, creating a platform for up and coming homegrown entrepreneurs to raise more funding for their businesses is important, particularly where the result creates more opportunities for others. We understand that the SMME sector is critical to create opportunities in South Africa,” said Collen Dlamini, Group Executive of Corporate Affairs at MultiChoice.
The leading African entertainment company has invested just over 12m AED of grants, resources, and business support towards the shortlisted companies ahead of their final pitch to the global investor panel. Galelo Africa – a black-owned South African financial advisory firm, former benefactor and current manager of the MultiChoice Innovation Fund – assisted the companies in developing their business cases (product and business development) as well as financial management.
Beginning in September 2021 as a cohort of 20 South African start-ups representing sectors across Healthtech, Fintech, EduTech, Circular Economy and the Creative Industries, numbers have been reduced to support six SMMEs taking part in an intensive virtual bootcamp programme followed by a live pitch day to industry experts and investors. There will be key addresses by Expo 2020 Dubai’s Yousuf Caires, Senior Vice President of Expo Live, the World Expo’s innovation grant programme, and South African Minister of Small Business Development, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams.
Facilitated by C3 – a United Arab Emirates (UAE) based social enterprise with a footprint in 17 countries across the Middle East and Africa – the programme has enabled the start-ups to access a network of experts and trainers within the international start-up community that have put the entrepreneurs through a rigorous Investor Readiness (IR) programme.
