Stellenbosch University
Welcome to Stellenbosch University
Calling on students to give their best Ideas Smash Pitch
Author: Rozanne Engel - Corporate Communications / Korporatiewe Kommunikasie
Published: 06/07/2018

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Are you an entrepreneur or innovator? Would you like a share of R70 000 or incubation support for your start-up business? Enter your best Ideas Smash Pitch and you can win all of the above.

The LaunchLab, in partnership with the Office of the Vice-Rector: Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies and the Students' Representative Council, is looking for start-up business ideas in multiple categories. The categories are Education, Advanced Manufacturing, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Social Innovation, Agritech and Food.

The Ideas Smash Pitch is intended primarily for early-stage business concepts, prototypes, and early-stage businesses from Stellenbosch University (SU) students. The LaunchLab is looking for start-up businesses who want to validate their concepts or improve their technology offerings to their market and gain traction for the solutions that they are currently working on.

According to Pius Illah, Communications Liaison Officer at the LaunchLab, the initiative was also motivated by the need to promote innovation and entrepreneurship at SU. “The country is going through a massive unemployment crisis and the best way to restore hope to the next generation is to encourage the culture of job creation through innovation and entrepreneurship. The benefit is that young students will get the platform to showcase their concepts and ideas and, after this competition, the LaunchLab will help with the incubation of the best ideas that are filtered through this process."

To enter, students need to prepare a three-minute video pitch of their concept and idea, which they need to upload online by completing the sign-up form on the LaunchLab's website at https://launchlab.co.za/suideasmash2018/.

The focus of the video pitch should be on the following:

  • Problem statement
  • Value proposition
  • Explanation of the commercial viability of the submitted work
  • Social impact of the work
  • Team

The deadline for the Ideas Smash Pitch is 27 July 2018. There will be a shortlist of 10 ideas to pitch to a panel of judges at the LaunchLab on 7 August 2018. The finalists will be invited to the LaunchLab's Ideas Pitching Platform, where they will get four minutes to pitch their business. The judges will have four minutes to ask questions of the entrepreneurs and, at the end of the evening, the judges will select the winning concepts and ideas.

Winning ideas or concepts will get the following benefits:

  • A share of R70 000.
  • A certificate of recognition from the Office of the Rector for Research and Innovation.
  • Incubation support from the LaunchLab.

For more information on the Ideas Smash Pitch, contact Pius@launchlab.co.za.

Photo supplied by The LaunchLab.