The Solution Space at the University of Cape Town (UCT) Graduate School of Business has partnered MTN Group to host a Startup Weekend focused on fintech.
Set for August 17-19 at Workshop 17 in Cape Town, the Startup Weekend allows participants to find a team, create a prototype, validate an idea and receive feedback from customers and experienced mentors.
The event will begin with participants pitching an idea for 60 seconds before forming teams. The top five to ten teams then go on to develop their ideas over the weekend, which culminates in a final pitch.
Top solutions from the Startup Weekend stand a chance to receive further support from the Solution Space and MTN Group through access to mentorship, co-working space and participation in masterclasses and clinics.
“This is an event for designers, developers, creatives, business people – anyone who is open to radical collaboration and looking to sign up to work with people with different skills, perspectives, backgrounds and points of view,” said Sarah-Anne Alman, manager at the Solution Space.
“We’ve worked with MTN Group to generate a handful of problem statements, so participants have real-world problems to tackle. The weekend isn’t however limited to these and we’re excited to see what other ideas are put forward.”
Herman Singh, MTN Group chief digital officer, said MTN viewed the fintech space as a rich environment for new ventures, with multiple friction points and opportunities in the banking and payments value chain to be addressed.
“This is a great opportunity to identify ways to build scalable disruptive businesses in the hottest sector of the startup universe together with partners such as Solution Space and MTN,” he said.
Participants must register here by August 15.
