The City has announced the launch of the Cape Town Entrepreneurship Competition 2010 to recognise and expand entrepreneurship in Cape Town.

Funding of R1,8 million was approved by the Council at its meeting on Wednesday 27 January. Of this, R600 000 will be used to fund the competition and R1,2 million will be used for the long-term development of Cape Town’s entrepreneur networks.

The competition will focus on technology and innovation in the fields of biotechnology, telecommunications and media, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), ‘clean’ technology, healthcare and social entrepreneurship. The winner of the competition will have an opportunity to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Competition in Barcelona in June later this year.

Mansoor Mohamed, the City’s Executive Director: Economic, Social Development and Tourism, said: “The competition forms part of the City’s strategy to position Cape Town as a leading enabler of entrepreneurship on the African continent and to build a stronger entrepreneurship ecosystem. The City already has strong partnerships with key stakeholders in the country.”

Registration for the competition will open on 17 February and the winners are expected to be announced on 30 March. A total of R200 000 has been allocated for prize money. A major benefit of the competition is the professional level of entrepreneurship support which the winners will receive and the opportunity to meet real investors who are willing to invest in real businesses.

The competition will be internet-based and details can be found on the website, which will be activated soon. The competition is being run through Cape Town Activa – an online community created by the City to assist local entrepreneurs.

“Cape Town Activa is the enabling platform for entrepreneurship development in Cape Town. It started off on the Barcelona Activa model, a very successful entrepreneurship support system developed by the City of Barcelona. It is still in the early stages of development and is expected to be operational by December 2010,” said Mohamed.

The competition will be managed by Bandwidth Barn, a world-wide leading ICT incubator and a strategic partner of the City. According to Chris Vermeulen, its CEO, “The Bandwidth Barn is very excited to be associated with the Cape Town Entrepreneurship Competition 2010.”

“Entrepreneurship has proven to be a significant driver of economic growth. Actions of entrepreneurs will help generate wealth by creating a demand in the market from a newly introduced innovation. Effective entrepreneurship fosters the production of wealth for a city or nation and helps the society as a whole,” concluded Mohamed.