The Startup Weekend Harare to be hosted by Hypercube will come alive this Friday at Hypercube in Harare. According to event organiser and Hypercube community manager Irene Chikumbo, pretty much everything is set for the event which starts on Friday 16 May at 5pm and ends on Sunday 18 May at 6pm.
Startup Weekend is a 54 hour long program where programmers, designers, and entrepreneurs are bundled up into teams with the objective of creating a startup within that weekend. This is the first time the Startup Weekend is coming to Zimbabwe and so far it’s promising to be a blistering start.
Chikumbo highlighted that some participants are being sponsored by local companies. Still on sponsors, the organisers have managed to amass quite a bunch, both local and international, and according to a Startup Weekend tweet, the winning startup will walk away with sponsored prizes worth $30,000.
The winning team of @StartupwkendZw wins fantastic prizes valued at over $30 000! #nolimitsZw Buy your ticket TODAY!
— StartupWeekend Zim (@StartupwkendZw) May 14, 2014
Teams will have mentors, among them, recognized businessmen and women in their fields from Zimbabwe and international. They are:
Nigel Mugamu – 263Chat (Zim)
Walter Wanyanya – Tech Tools (Zim)
Shikoh Gitau – Mercy Corps (Kenya)
Fahad Hassan – Always Prepped (USA)
Winston Taylor – Gikko (Zim)
Zaynab Leeya – Thoughtworks (SA)
Asa Jogi – The Jogi Group (Zim)
Tommy Deuschle – Emerging Ideas (Zim)
Munya Chiura – Hypercube Hub (Zim)
Limbikani Kwabeza – Tech Zim (Zim)
Muvirimi Kupara – Anchor Holdings (Zim)
Judges are similarly accomplished business men and women locally and internationally. They are:
Kumbirayi Katsande – MD of Nestle Zimbabwe
Divine Ndhlukula – Founder & CEO of Securico
Pfungwa Serima – MD of SAP Africa
Michele Scanlon – CEO of Umax
Enyo Kumahor – Regional MD Thoughtworks
Prizes and support have been donated by the following sponsors:
Umax
Scanlen and Holderness
Lynda.com
Thoughtworks Pan Africa
African Technology Foundation
Telco
Zimpapers Digital
Star Fm Radio
Deloitte
Esri Southern Africa
Ernst and Young
ZLG Water
Celsys
Schweppes
US Embassy
We understand tickets are only available for those wishing to participate and the event is not open for “viewing”. Tickets are available at Hypercube Hub in Belgravia, Harare. The cost is $60 and $30 for students. Alternatively, tickets can be purchased online here.
4 comments
Please @StartupwkendZw live tweet the event
I’m trying really hard to not say on behalf of the core techies why they aren’t even fazed about Startup Weekend. I was at the venue there sometime yesterday, all new faces. Same with most other tech events. I think the tech events and whatever else industry really has to fix the bad reputation they’ve gotten. I could go into the “whys”, but I don’t think anyone cares. And I don’t want to be a troll.
That being said, of course I’ll be there
[…] Zimbabwe’s first ever Startup Weekend kicked off at Hypercube Hub earlier this evening with a slew of ideas being pitched by the several participants who had come in from all over the country. […]
Kuuuuuups!