South African entrepreneurs get ready to 'Get in the Ring' at national finals

The start-up competition, which takes place in 80 countries worldwide, will see city winners from the Western Cape, North West and Gauteng going through to the national finals on 17 - 18 November 2015. The national finalists will participate in the African finals in January 2016 and ultimately the international finals in Colombia in March 2016, where finalists will meet prospective funders, investors and partners and gain valuable international exposure.

The competition is one of 50 Dutch projects associated with the House of The Future programme. It is fast growing in stature in South Africa following its local debut last year. In only three years, Get In The Ring has grown from a local event in the Netherlands, to a global competition with participants from 64 countries, connecting more than 3000 entrepreneurs to thousands of funders and millions of fans.

House of Future event in Johannesburg

House of the Future in Johannesburg and Garden of the Future in Cape Town are two events initiated by the Netherlands stimulating and celebrating cooperation between South Africa and the Netherlands. House of The Future, is a five-day event from 16-20 November and will take place during the official visit of Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte and Minister of Agriculture, Sharon Dijksma, accompanied by a trade mission of over 75 Dutch companies. These events will ask the question: how can we #cocreateSA? At this high profile event, Get In The Ring will be a highlight, featuring two days of judging and presentations and culminating in the naming of the South African winner.

Johann Landsberg, Manager of the bHive Enterprise Development Centre at NWU Vaal, says the competition is an important addition to its range of enterprise development programmes already impacting thousands of students and start ups. "It seeks innovative entrepreneurs across all sectors, who have products or services that can be scaled internationally. He believes that while South Africans can be highly innovative, many lack the entrepreneurial skills needed to take their businesses to scale. "We need to focus on creating employers and not just employees," he says.

Get In The Ring aims to support this goal by giving entrepreneurs a unique platform to showcase their innovations to a potentially global audience. For more information, go to www.realsuccess.net/gitr.

City finalists

Vaal triangle city final - hosted by North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus & bhive EDC, 27 August - winning startups:

1. Newtech Rail (Jan Jooste): cheaper and more effective overhead systems for increased train speed.

2. Phat Pat Catering (Patricia Esterhuizen): consulting for the catering industry

3. Solar Bliss (William Hartzer): solar systems

Johannesburg/Pretoria city final

Hosted by The Real Success Network in partnership with The Innovation Hub, 17 October 2015 - winning startups:

1. UmoyAir (Sapho Maqhwazima): a cross network, free mobile call platform

2. Tousca (Dorian Toussaint): a global ground transport aggregator using a unique online tool.

3. Adfire Creative M3dia (James Sands): an app that lets anyone create their own 3D illusions.

Cape Town Winning Start-Ups

1. SnappSales (Karen Wessels): Innovative outsourced sales support.

2. Stokvella (Sebastian Daniels): an app designed to help regulate the Stokvel market by introducing a system of accountability and transparency to build trust.

3. AdCanvas - Branded coffee cups with insignia or for a chosen campaign message.