It’s hard to believe that it’s that time again! 25 clean technology entrepreneurs and start-ups have recently qualified as semi-finalists in the 2017 GCIP-SA competition, and will be fostered and supported for the next few months through our mentoring, training and networking programmes.
These semi-finalists will be participating in this year’s GCIP-SA Business Accelerator programme and have already attended a National Academy at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria in June. The
teams were selected by a group of TIA judges from a total of 198 registrations and 81 completed online applications from all regions in the country.
Five teams were selected in energy efficiency category, five teams in renewable energy category, three teams in water efficiency category, six teams in waste beneficiation category and five teams in the green build
ing category.
One of the objectives of the GCIP-SA is to promote and development cleantech innovation in all the provinces of South Africa and to target demographic representation in the competition that mirrors the general demographic of South Africa. We are pleased to confirm that in 2017 we have managed to improve on our performance against these objectives.
At the National Academy the teams were introduced to the DeBarsy 20-element business development model© by Mr Paul deGive, director of training and mentoring for the global GCIP programme, and they were also exposed to presentations by TIA and external experts on key topics such as Intellectual Property
Protection, Product Development, and the Funding Landscape in SA. The teams were matched with mentors who will guiding them on the implementation of the business model elements to their individual businesses over the next four months to get them investment-ready, and prepare their pitches for final judging. The Finalists for the 2017 programme will be announced on 19 October 2017, and the overall winner and category winners at a high-level gala and awards event on 2 November 2017.
Below:
The 2017 GCIP-SA semi-finalists at the National Academy with Paul deGive, global GCIP director of training and mentoring (front left) and Gerswynn McKuur, GCIP-SA national project manager (front right)