Cape Town - Seed Academy is attempting to get over 3 000 respondents - the largest ever - to take part in its startup survey in South Africa with a view to providing a national snapshot of startup entrepreneurs and what they need for greater success.
“This year, we want to build on the benchmarks established last year by determining the success rates of entrepreneurs in different environments such as urban, township and rural environments," said Seed Academy CEO Donna Rachelson.
"We will also establish the sectors in which entrepreneurs operate, as well the markets in which they are building their businesses – business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C) or business to government (B2G). Finally, we will consider the success rates of local compared to foreign entrepreneurs participating in the SA ecosystem,” she said.
The survey will only take about five minutes to complete and is available below. It is aimed at startup entrepreneurs who have been in business for less than five years.
Those that participate could win one of three business support packages valued at R30 000 each, one of two seats on an accelerator programme valued at R15 000 each and one of five places on an entrepreneur boot camp valued at R5000 each.
Rachelson said that there is not enough support for entrepreneurs in South Africa.
“The National Development Plan (NDP) places a huge expectation on small business given that the plan expects small and expanding companies to deliver 90% of jobs by 2030. The results of the survey will provide valuable data for Government to enhance the startup ecosystem in South Africa by outlining exactly what the status quo is and where the most urgent interventions are required,” she said.
Seed Academy is a training, incubation and funding ecosystem for entrepreneurs which initiated SA’s first startup survey. Its focus is on dramatically growing and scaling high growth potential businesses.
Seed Academy believes that the development of entrepreneurs and nurturing of startups through training and incubation is vital so that the right skills and mindsets are developed for greater success. Programmes have been designed with sustainability in mind – entrepreneurs are equipped, personally and professionally, to recognise what it takes to build, run and scale a business.
Seed Academy understands the needs of entrepreneurs and that these differ depending on the life-stage of the business. It offers foundational and advanced entrepreneurial training, incubation and escalation programmes for the three key stages of a business – Ideation, Build & Grow, Grow & Scale.
For more information on Seed Academy’s programmes and to apply visit www.seedacademy.co.za.
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