For the second year in a row, Upstarts is driving a ‘student start-up nation’ – this time, over 12-weeks, on a 24hr bus journey, driving students from Upstarts to Startups!
With a brief to “Re-educate Education”, our 8 dynamic teams turned into overnight businesses at our signature ‘Idea Auction’, once again putting young South African social innovators on the map, driving an innovation economy that actually does create jobs and a social innovation culture that literally does make South Africa work better.
Please meet the 8 Upstarts’ teams below…. and show your support by helping them realise their ideas!
Pop Print: encourages reading and intellectual development in schoolchildren by using POS (Point of Sale) receipt printers at participating supermarkets (the new ‘library’), to generate locally relevant and affordable stories, puzzles and other resources.
Plug-Ed: a low-cost credit-card sized Raspberry Pi computer pre-loaded with grade-appropriate educational content that township school children can plug into their TV’s at home.
Dadewethu: (“my sister” in isiZulu) – sells and delivers pregnancy tests, sanitary products, condoms and lubricants to female students on campus, and runs an informational website and Whatsapp/phone line to educate women – and men –about female reproductive health.
Feedback: an app that enables learners and peers to evaluate teacher performance and matches professional development opportunities to the teacher’s nee
Lwazi: an online on-demand tutoring platform that matches students to peer tutors on campus either face to face or using live-streaming, for 15 minutes to 1 hour slots.
Uniform Exchange: provides affordable second-hand school uniforms to children in underprivileged communities, via pop-up days and voucher incentives.
Funda Fund: makes crowdfunding for university tuition more accessible to underprivileged high school students by using the university tutor/school network to select and profile their stories, and run strategic campaigns both on- and offline.
En Route: an educational agency that exposes school children to inspiring role models on a bus through motivational talks, and experiential career guidance Saturdays.
UCT Upstarts is a social innovation platform founded Gina Levy (Super Stage), in partnership with the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and the office of the Vice-Chancellor’s