Just in. The South Africa Business Angel Network will launch in Johannesburg on August 24, 2016. They’ve said it’s purpose is to “galvanise and grow angel investing” in the country. Convening the angel network is Chris Campbell, an SA-based entrepreneur who got inspired after the EBAN (European Business Angel Network) Winter University 2014 in Helsinki, Finland and thought to replicate the effects of EBAN over there in South Africa.
The conversations that led to SABAN starting started as recently as May 2016, with Chris reaching out to partners like the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Newtown Partners, Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, Entrepreneur Traction, GBAN, Silicon Cape, SiMODiSA, VC4Africa, Clifftop Colony, Knife Capital, SA Enterprise Development, DEMO Africa, Venture Networks, French Tech Hub, Methys and Jozi Angels. ABAN, the organisation serving Africa in the same capacity as EBAN is serving Europe, has been instrumental as well. They’ve called it a “network of networks”, and pointed out that
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South Africa’s economy – like many African economies – is plagued with a ton of unemployment and low GDP growth, so business owners, and their activities, are very…needed. SABAN wants to help catalyse the entire system by providing a platform for these entrepreneurs to more readily access funding, and hopefully, this process will get easier (as more Angels get into the space). Some of the individuals helping drive SABAN are Audrey Mothupi (NFBAN Board Member), Craig Mullet, Anthony Farr, Vuyisa Qabaka, Alexandra Fraser, Dean Cannell, David van Dijk, Ben White, Tomi Davies (LAN), Llew Claasen, Matsi Modise, Elizabeth Gould, Garreth Bloor, Anthony Record, Christophe Viarnaud, Rebecca Enonchong and Abu Cassim.
It is expected that SABAN will stand on its own two feet by early 2017.
Source – EBAN
