The SA Innovation Summit is the largest start-up event in Africa, providing various platforms for developing and showcasing African innovation. The summit raises awareness about the Innovation Fund and highlights its preliminary successes. Since its establishment in 2021, less than 18 months ago, the fund has disbursed a total of R469,5 million to businesses, including SMMEs. It has leveraged three times its initial investment. For every R1 invested by the fund, another R3 has been leveraged from other sources.

The Innovation Fund has also supported 24 businesses, with over 50% of these projects now in the commercial stage and 70,2% of these black-led or owned. Women lead over 49% of the black-owned companies. To talk more on this and how some of the country’s innovators can take advantage of these opportunities, 

Guest: Mboneni Moufhe - Deputy Director General: Socio-economic innovation partnerships at the Department of Higher Education and Training

Guest: Busi Moloi – Founder of Sawubona Mycelium