Silicon Cape
Attracting Nerds & Rich People

What is Silicon Cape?

realisation

epiphany

Why move to Silicon Valley...

if we can do it all in Silicon Cape?

but can we?

potential & opportunity

but

a high-tech innovation
hub that fosters:
entrepreneurs
startups
talent
venture investors
is lacking

how do we change this?

ecosystem

awareness
of the
opportunity

Why the (silicon) Cape?

simple,
identifiable,
self-explanatory,
& marketable brand

text

already has some of the
right ingredients

text

“What it takes is the right people. If you could
get the right ten thousand people to move
from Silicon Valley to Buffalo, Buffalo would
become Silicon Valley…. Now you could
make a great city anywhere, if you could get
the right people to move there. So the
question of how to make a Silicon Valley
becomes: Who are the right people, and how
do you get them to move?“

Paul Graham
“How To Be A Silicon Valley”
paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html
“You only need two kinds of people
to create a technology hub: “

“rich people & nerds”

(the future of this presentation)

So how do we move them here?

Great Universities

Great place to live!

Great Place to Live 2

Personality & Culture

Intact City Centres
(San Francisco, Boston, Seattle
vs
Pittsburgh)

Startups beget Startups

We just need to sow the seeds!

Silicon Cape is here...

Yola Springleap EDH
FireID Integr8 Fundamo
Afrigator Blueworld OrderTalk
Radiate Thawte Microgaming
Clicks2Customers Yeigo Fontera
Quirk Skyrove StrictlyTickets.com
Clickatell Eyeballs TinyImpact
MXit Psitek BetTech
i5 Omnipless GetClosure
ChessCube Woothemes Zoopy
Personera WebAfrica Cibecs
KnowledgeTree Global Vision Inala

HP Ventures
IDC / SPII
Innovation Fund
InVenFin
Bioventures
HBD
Horizon Equity
Intel Capital
Triumph VC
4Di Capital

build global companies

great talent pool
(but also brain drain)

core opportunity

limited natural resources

tourism is not enough

net exporter of IP
starting right now

“invisible income”
=
great wealth

we need a
tax-friendly environment

protection and free mobility
of capital internationally

access to a community & ecosystem

a regulatory environment that
PROMOTES
rather than
INHIBITS
development of IP
(FAIS, SARB, Income Tax, Exchange Control)

Michael Dell
$12.3 BILLION
Varsity Dropout (19)

if we don’t create the right environment
to become a
net exporter of IP
we’ll remain a
net exporter of talent

So what is SCI?

a non-profit,
community owned & driven
initiative
aimed at fostering the creation
of an ecosystem
that will
better South Africa
for the benefit of all

a local & international
branding campaign for
the region & SA
as a high-tech innovation
& investment destination

an awareness campaign to
highlight & expose
startup & investment activity

a platform for highlighting
the issues
facing startups & venture investors
and engaging with
government & regulators
to lobby for legal changes

an attempt
to accelerate investing activity
&
raising awareness of the opportunity in
the Cape
for entrepreneurs & venture investors,
particularly overseas, attracting FDI &
retaining & attracting skills
(local, ex-pat & foreign)

The SCI is NOT:
an incubator
a hub
a VC fund
an association
a mentoring program
a government initiative

it IS possible to create
the Silicon Cape

there are challenges

South Africans have a
strong work ethic,
innovative minds &
a formidable “can do” attitude

This could be the future of our country’s
export revenues one day

“There is nothing more powerful
than an idea whose time has come”
- Victor Hugo

text

Henk Kleynhans
CTO & Founder
Skyrove (Pty) Ltd
henk@skyrove.com
www.geekrebel.com
http://twitter.com/geekrebel