The
group, labelled “Geeks on a Plane” (#GOAP),
will be visiting four of Africa’s technology start-up hubs over the 13 day
visit, which wraps up on April 2.
“Organized by 500
Startups, Geeks on a Plane (#GOAP) is a tour for startups, investors, and
executives to learn about high-growth technology markets worldwide. We travel
by planes, trains, and automobiles to the most exciting international startup
scenes with the sole mission of uniting geeks and exploring cross-border
opportunities. The result: a lifelong bond with fellow travelers, a wealth of
new friends and business contacts in exploding technology markets, and a
stronger appreciation for the cultural and economic ties that bind us globally.”
The
Silicon Valley “Geeks” hope to ignite conversation with various techno
incubation projects, innovators looking for start-up funds and generally get a
feel for the emerging industries.
First
stop is Lagos, Nigeria, (also often referred to as the ‘Yabacon Valley’), where
they will attend a series of events, including a “Nollywood media and tech
party night”. The second leg, Accra, Ghana which is fast becoming known as one
of Africa’s leading technology centres. The geeks will join the Enterprise
Africa Summit as well as get a glimpse of a $200 M business innovation hub
called “Ghana Cyber City”.
In
Johannesburg, they will be hosted to a panel event led by SiMODiSA.org- a not for profit
organisation that gives “hand-ups” to start-ups.
While
in South Africa, they will enjoy a three day safari and experience local
culture by touring Soweto,
the CapeWinelands and Table
Mountain. They will also get to meet up with SiliconCape, a community of tech
entrepreneurs, developers, creatives and angel investors who are passionate
about entrepreneurship.
The
500 Startup 500.co group is a tech
accelerator organisation that operates tours all around the globe for investors
to network and identify tech trends the world over.
"The African region is definitely of interest
as we continue to look for and source deals from traditionally underrepresented
ecosystems," said 500 Startups founding partner Dave McClure.
Afro
Leo thinks this is inspiring:
“the future is for
geeks”,
“have you ever seen a
lion need glasses”
“have you ever heard
of a lion seeing through glasses”
Welcome
to Africa! Just don’t forget the IP, geeks. Facebook was stolen, there is a
movie about it (our post on that here);
Snapshot shares have been snapped up because of the IP in its data (Reinhardt
Biermann covered it for us here)
and well, here is a post from me just for you: Important
IP Considerations for Entrepreneurs.
