November is celebrated globally as the month of entrepreneurship with multiple activities putting the spotlight on instilling a culture of entrepreneurship in local communities.
No larger event does this better than Global Entrepreneurship Week, an event celebrated in 160 countries with a full week programme dedicated to highlighting the entrepreneurial activities present within local ecosystems.
For South Africa, GEW has been gaining momentum as a major calendar event with more players in the SME development sector showcasing the impact of their interventions in the lives of South Africa’s up and coming entrepreneurs.
South Africa’s SME development sector has seen a surge of players enter into the market, largely due to the overflow of funds available in the enterprise development coffers of corporate South Africa.
Enterprise development, recently amended to enterprise supplier development under the new BBBEE codes, has led to a major disconnect in the fundraising process for many black owned SMEs, specifically with early stage ventures.
The over flux of enterprise development programmes, incubators and accelerators are resulting in a number of entrepreneurs exhibiting “training fatigue,” as black owned SMEs attempt to navigate the ecosystem in attempt to access funding for their new ventures.
As a pan African network with the purpose of reducing the amount of friction entrepreneurs experience in early stage of development, The Hookup Dinner looks to address this through connecting entrepreneurs at the bottom of the pyramid with their first set of small wins.
In taking full advantage of the global conversation around entrepreneurship during GEW, The Hookup Dinner alongside their partners Standard Bank & SAB Kickstart will be hosting THUDfest, an annual festival that celebrates the doers.
The theme for THUDfest 2015 will be focused on access as we assist entrepreneurs in building an ecosystem around their business to access networks and community, training and early stage funding.
The Hookup Dinner will kick start the month of entrepreneurship by connecting seven cities across South Africa as well as Nairobi, Kenya on Friday, 06 November 2015.
“Our aim is to experiment locally and scale continentally” says The Hookup Dinner founder, Selebogo Dr Lifesgud Molefe.
“We are building up our network to support new and early stage ventures and assist entrepreneurs in mapping out their journey to sustainability.”
To register and check schedule for various talks and workshops during the event please go to: www.thudfest.co
- Date: 15-20 November 2015
- Venue: Constitution Hill, Braamfontein