Two South African Companies Headed to DEMO Africa After Startup Weekend Cape Town

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An app that makes it easier for emergency services to connect in the field has won the Startup Weekend in Cape Town, South Africa. The winners will head to DEMO Africa in October to compete and to present in front of a panel of investors, entrepreneurs and other people. 

Virtual Firehouse’s winning idea is the brainchild of Brandon Wilson, an emergency services veteran who has experienced the inadequacies of current solutions first hand. The system aims to overcome the management and reporting challenges that emergency services teams face due to outdated systems.

“The winning solution addresses a clear need in the market, and despite the impressive output and creativity displayed by all teams, the judges were pleased with their final decision” commented one of the Startup Weekend judges, Stuart Gast of Invenfin Venture Capital.

The top two teams won mentorship and support from Microsoft BizSpark, which will also send them to attend Demo Africa taking place in Nairobi, Kenya in October this year.

Photo Courtesy: © Mark Koekemoer 2012

DEMO Africa is getting close, so we are really excited to see more and more companies being brought into the experience. This team will spend some time on stage in Kenya, and it should be interesting to see if the idea that started in South Africa will gain some exposure and traction for emergency services in other countries. 

The registration process was supposed to end on August 31, but If you want to register your company for DEMO Africa, you should visit this link. You may be able to still get something in there. "Only 40 startups will be able to launch at DEMO Africa and another 15 pre-product pitches will be selected from student groups and the Startup Weekend process. “We will have the best of the best from Africa launching at DEMO Africa, and this is very exciting to use,” Harry Hare, the DEMO Africa Executive Producer has said. “We will be able for the first time show the world what Africa is made up of."

This is great stuff. according to the folks at DEMO Africa, the chosen 40 startups will be announced within two weeks.

If you have not already signed up to become a BizSpark member, you can sign up  here.  You shoul dhave a company that is less than three years old, and you should be under $1 million in revenue per year. You can start the process with only an idea. You do not have to have anything other than a business website and email, and you should sign on via the Microsoft Live ID login. 

You can connect to other companies and startup founders who are talking about their projects and processes every day at the Microsoft BizSpark Facebook page.