Ventureburn releases startup survey
HOUGHTON – The results for Ventureburn Startup Survey were released on 22 November.
The M&C Saatchi Abel building in Houghton was buzzing on 22 November when the results of the Ventureburn Startup Survey were released, giving insight into the world of startups and young entrepreneurs.
The survey was powered by Telkom Futuremakers, alongside tech-oriented media company Burn Media and data collection company Qurio, who surveyed 260 founders of various tech-based startups with fascinating new insights.
Read: Former MTN accountant now faces fraud charges of R54 million
The event was attended by a plethora of business leaders, technology gurus and media, including the CEO of Aurik Business Accelerator Pavlo Phitidis who gave an introductory address.
Phitidis spoke about the poor state of the South African economy and how financial and political institutions could benefit from the data collected during the survey.
He said the crowd who attended the event was the wrong crowd, as they already know about the widespread benefits of tech-based entrepreneurship. Phitidis said he would have liked to see government ministers or members of parliamentary portfolio committees take in the information.
Group Head of Enterprise and Supplier Development at Telkom Litha Kutta expressed hopes for the report to push other companies and institutions in the growing technology sector in South Africa. Kutta said for the past two years he has realised that Telkom has become more of a ‘tech-company’ with approximately R204 million invested in technology. He added that companies should adopt incubators as much as they embrace small to medium enterprises (SME).
Read: #Crimestats: 10 latest crime statistics in South Africa
“We have to take this message to other companies,” he said.
The presentation of the report was led by Alex Nelson, survey statistician at Qurio, who highlighted key insights in the tech-sector. One of the primary insights included the rise of black startups this year from 26% to 50%. Another insight was that only three per cent of black startups is profitable compared to 16% of their white counterparts.
An interesting growth of 44% in Gauteng-based tech startups was highlighted compared to the 28% growth in 2015. Though Gauteng displayed great growth it is still behind the Western Cape with its growth of 47%.
To look at all the survey data visit: www.ventureburn.com
Share your thoughts on this story by posting on the North Eastern Tribune Facebook Page.
