The innovative business ideas of 57 talented students across seven South African universities will be on display at the inaugural Demo Day, which will take place virtually Friday, Aug. 30.
Demo Day is sponsored by the United States-South Africa Virtual Incubator (USSAVI), and will bring together investors, industry leaders and innovators for an engaging day of presentations and networking.
USSAVI is a collaborative effort based at Guilford College and supported by a grant from the U.S. Embassy in South Africa. The incubator is the brainchild of Guilford President Kyle Farmbry and was conceived as part of the United States-South Africa Higher Education Network.
The program’s mission is to empower South African college students to develop innovative solutions to pressing social and economic challenges. Through an immersive six-month program, USSAVI has provided students with the skills, resources and mentorship needed to launch and pitch their ventures.
Meredeth Summers, Director of the USSAVI Program and Chief of Staff at Guilford, says she can’t wait for students to present their ideas at Demo Day.
“These brilliant entrepreneurs have shown remarkable creativity and resilience in addressing complex social issues through their business ideas,” Meredeth said. “The Demo Day represents not just the end of their training, but the beginning of their journey as social entrepreneurs.”
Twelve teams have undergone an intensive three-month training program facilitated by Mashauri, Ltd, an international organization dedicated to supporting higher-ed institutions in giving students an entrepreneurial mindset. Under the guidance of Mashauri Ltd. co-founder and CEO Simon Gifford and program manager Clint Davies, students learned to identify social entrepreneurship problems and develop innovative solutions.
Judges will have the opportunity to witness firsthand the innovative solutions developed by these young entrepreneurs and deliberate to determine the winning team(s).
Demo Day Judges
Titania Fernandez
Titania Fernandez is a senior philanthropy global director with extensive international experience. She is a respected leader and subject-matter expert across sectors in the fields of public service, philanthropy, social investments, collective impact, public policy and advocacy, institutional capacity building, due diligence and partnerships. She has professional experience in higher education, social justice organizations and the civil society sectors.
Guy Harris
Mentor focused on Scaling Medium Enterprises and helping high impact scalable, replicable (other industries), repeatable (other locations) entities that build Pathways outa Poverty in limited resource communities for motivated NEETs – those not in employment, education or training (and not in grips of druglords or ganglords). Effective Early Childhood Development and Food Gardens for NUTRITOUS food security are great low barrier to entry places to start!
Kieno Kimmies
Kieno is the co-founder of Innovation City in Capetown, South Africa. It is an ecosystem of thought leaders and leading-edge ideas to make Cape Town a more innovative destination with increased digitalization. It is an environment that fosters funders, start-ups, scale-ups, and corporates to create jobs and spread economic prosperity. Kieno’s passion for entrepreneurship – and its social power – has been there forever. He loves dealing with people, changing the way they relate to each other, putting the right processes in place, and helping to take their businesses further.
Andy Milligan
Andy Milligan has extensive cross-cultural practice and successes working for major corporations and startups as well as nonprofits, large and small. Hebegan his career working for Credit Suisse in New York, after which he moved to Las Vegas where he worked for a software startup that was acquired by IBM where he served as a global product marketing manager. Andy then moved to South Africa where he worked throughout as a business development coach and consultant for 10 years and as a financial developer for Operation Mobilization Africa.
Zitty Nxumalo
Recently named President of the Guilford Education Alliance, Zithobile (Dr. Z) served as a mentor for the USSAVI pilot program in 2022-23. Dr. Z was recognized as one of the Triad Business Journal’s 40 Leaders Under 40, and received a full scholarship to attend Google’s Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI) in New York. She was also awarded the Leadership Greensboro Service Medal by the City of Greensboro in 2021. Dr. Z is also 1 of the co-founders of We the People International, a Greensboro-based nonprofit organization focused on activating youth and young adults through education and entertainment for year-round civic engagement, community work and entrepreneurship.
Event Details
Date: Friday, Aug. 30, 2024
Time: 9 am – 12 pm EST (3 pm – 6 pm SAST)
Platform: Virtual – guests may join the watch party at www.ussavi.org/watch