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Silicon South Africa: Google Launches Incubator For African Startups

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Re: Silicon South Africa: Google Launches Incubator For African Startups

#31

Post by prr »

Untitled wrote: post #20

Hmmmm... The software industry in South Africa faces several problems. Probably the first problem is that computer science teaching and research sucks. This is not my opinion but based on research ( http://web.up.ac.za/sitefiles/file/EBIT-Innovate/Local%20sci... ) – the relative citation index of computer science is at 0.57. Engineering is much higher (at 0.73). This problem is compounded by the fact that the financi…

> Another problem is the sheer expense of broadband internet connection. Hosting is too expensive for many would be internet start-ups.

Fun fact: AT&T played a large role in f###ing SA's internet up; with dodgy political deals, lousy infrastructure support and horrific bandwidth caps.

http://news.slashdot.org/story/07/08/26/1642210/How-SBC-ATam...

[edit] Slashdot article link is dead, copy here: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/1090.html

Re: Silicon South Africa: Google Launches Incubator For African Startups

#32

Post by richardw »

gruseom wrote: post #22
a54552 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

roving gangs of looters I've live in South Africa my entire life, but have yet to encounter a "roving gang of looters". Citation?

I've live in South Africa my entire life, but have yet to encounter a "roving gang of looters". Citation? My wife was born in South Africa and always wanted to go back (her family left when she was a baby), so when an opportunity came to make a sales trip there she jumped at the chance. This was perhaps 5 years ago. One evening in Johannesburg she and a Brit were driving back from dinner when, stopped at a traffic li…

No, that's an example of a hijacking, not a roving gang of looters. Here in SA, hijackings are a risk. Burglaries are a risk. Government corruption, a risk. Roving gangs of looters...not a risk.

SA is a country with reasonably developed cities surrounded by huge rural stretches, at the bottom of the wildest continent in the world. Hard to generalise. However, the biggest challenge for a software startup is more likely to be "raise our game" rather than "avoid the next roving gang of thugs". :)

Re: Silicon South Africa: Google Launches Incubator For African Startups

#33

Post by Devilboy »

Vmabuza wrote: post #30
Alex3917 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From people in the country I've heard that there is often a lot of violence that spills out of the slums around election time.

Thats BS.South Africa does have a high crime rate i agree but its not as drastic as people make it out to be.

You just say that because you've not lived in a country where you can walk the streets alone safely at night.

Re: Silicon South Africa: Google Launches Incubator For African Startups

#34

Post by Apocryphon »

Has any group done a similar thing to promote Indian startups? Sounds like a more sustainable and helpful thing in the long run. Give a man a job in your company, and he'll work for you for the rest of a life. Teach a man to build his own company, and he'll work for himself.

Re: Silicon South Africa: Google Launches Incubator For African Startups

#35

Post by mdpm »

I am applying, but I do have a few small points:

- As seed capital goes, that's not going to get very far. It is, however, great that other aspects will be supported.

- Given the failure rate, likely worse than international par - that's not really enough ideas being sponsored to see many graduate.

- There are other incubators here, offering similar services (however, not Google's name as a sponsor, nor generally the capital)

- Competing internationally from .za will be hard. Perhaps prohibitively so. Ideas with primarily local applicability will be more likely to succeed, which means ...

- You should really be developing (and selling) a _business_, not an application.

Re: Silicon South Africa: Google Launches Incubator For African Startups

#36

Post by Vmabuza »

Devilboy wrote: post #33
Vmabuza wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats BS.South Africa does have a high crime rate i agree but its not as drastic as people make it out to be.

You just say that because you've not lived in a country where you can walk the streets alone safely at night.

7 years in KZN 5 years In Jozi the Rest in Mpumalanga. Yes you are right at night safety levels drop but i think its like that in most developed countries too.But what are you doing walking at night anyways boet? Alone nogal

Re: Silicon South Africa: Google Launches Incubator For African Startups

#37

Post by a54552 »

Alex3917 wrote: post #19
a54552 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

roving gangs of looters I've live in South Africa my entire life, but have yet to encounter a "roving gang of looters". Citation?

From people in the country I've heard that there is often a lot of violence that spills out of the slums around election time.

From people in the country I've heard that there is often a lot of violence that spills out of the slums around election time.

Citation? The only thing I've heard about are "service delivery protests" that happen in townships, usually due to internal power struggles in the ruling party. The worst effect on the average middle class person, is that a road next to a squatter camp or township that they commute on may be blocked with rocks for a few hours, before police clear the scene.

South Africa does have a relatively high rate of violent crime (and a trend towards organised crime) and a corrupt ruling party.

But the people you are speaking to are exaggerating, and could be a bit disaffected, and are probably not the most reliable sources of information.

Re: Silicon South Africa: Google Launches Incubator For African Startups

#38

Post by a54552 »

Apocryphon wrote: post #27

Google ought to also fund startups in Chile, Italy, and Australia. Lock down every single Mediterranean climate in the world.

Your point is flippant, but you do make an interesting point. There is huge demand for skilled programmers in South Africa, and very few skilled graduates. Most are employed in Johannesburg, and the majority are snapped up by the financial industry, as someone else pointed out in this thread. Convincing them to consider Cape Town will be difficult. Apart from UCT graduates, it will be interesting to see who else they manage to attract.

Cape Town is a great city (and the best run municipality in the country), but it lacks the dynamism of Johannesburg. I have to wonder if "tourist" considerations, rather than serious business thinking drove the decision to put the incubator in Cape Town.

Re: Silicon South Africa: Google Launches Incubator For African Startups

#39

Post by a54552 »

Alex3917 wrote: post #14
jasonkester wrote: post #6

Missed a word in the title: South Africa. That changes things a lot. If it were in Kenya or Nigeria, this would be a bold move. South Africa, on the other hand, is not really all that much different to a middle of the road Western country. As a result, this news is more on par with opening an incubator in New Zealand or Italy. Certainly cool to hear, but not really "Startups in the Congo" cool.

"South Africa, on the other hand, is not really all that much different to a middle of the road Western country." How many western countries have 30% unemployment, roving gangs of looters, and an average literacy level of 2nd/3rd grade?

Middle class South Africa, (still largely white), is pretty Westernised. Private (and semi-private) schools, private hospitals, high end shopping malls, cheap domestic labour - those would be better descriptors for the South Africa most programmers experience.

Re: Silicon South Africa: Google Launches Incubator For African Startups

#40

Post by Devilboy »

Vmabuza wrote: post #36
Devilboy wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just say that because you've not lived in a country where you can walk the streets alone safely at night.

7 years in KZN 5 years In Jozi the Rest in Mpumalanga. Yes you are right at night safety levels drop but i think its like that in most developed countries too.But what are you doing walking at night anyways boet? Alone nogal

> i think its like that in most developed countries too.

See that's where you lack perspective. In safe countries (like here in Australia) you can name any suburb in the country and I'll go for a stroll at 3am with no fear for my personal safety. Why? Maybe I was out drinking and I'm catching a bus home.

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