Innovation leads to real change

[Standard Bank Team]

Open innovation and driving a culture of collaboration across industries and geographies are core priorities at Standard Bank Group. Changing the way that we do business will ultimately change the way that our customers do banking – safely and conveniently.

We support the development and growth of small businesses through collaboration and open innovation initiatives. That’s why we have committed ourselves to supporting initiatives that will unearth and support groundbreaking innovation that will bring about real change and transformation in Africa.

These initiatives include Matchi, Lean Startup Machine, Startup Knight and the Festival of Entrepreneurship.

Our sponsorship of Matchi in Sub-Saharan Africa
Matchi.biz is global community that connects fintech innovators and banks to create new business opportunities through collaborative relationships. Standard Bank Group is looking to this involvement to bring new innovation to our customers as well as to provide support to startups with a strong capability in financial technology (fintech).

Lean Startup Machine workshops
Most new ventures fail because they build something no one wants. Lean Startup Machine teaches entrepreneurs and innovators a disruptive, problem-centric process for discovering which products will succeed in the marketplace and which won’t.

In its continued drive to help build a sustainable SME sector, Standard Bank is supporting a Lean Startup Machine workshop taking place in Johannesburg from 31 October to 2 November 2014.

Register for the workshop here.

We are main sponsor of Startup Knight 2014 competition
It takes more than a great idea to succeed as an entrepreneur. StartUp Knight is a competition to provide tech startups in South Africa with the experience, expertise and partnerships to turn their idea into a viable, growing business. In 2013 the winning concept, Air Taxi, was incubated for commercialisation by Standard Bank Group. This year Standard Bank Group the value of prizes has increased to over R500 000, which means there can be more winners working towards the theme "Technology that enables". Enter the Startup Knight competition here.

Festival of Entrepreneurship
Standard Bank Group is sponsoring the Festival of Entrepreneurship Global Entrepreneurship Week, which will bring South African startups, entrepreneurs, SMEs, corporates, and investors together in Johannesburg from 17-24 November.

The Festival of Entrepreneurship is produced by The Hookup Dinner – a platform for a growing network of entrepreneurs to engage and connect with each other as well as corporates and organisations.

Standard Bank Group’s growing sponsorships of innovation initiatives in Africa reaffirms our commitment to supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses through collaboration, technology and global learnings. These platforms encourage and support innovation and investment on the continent, affecting real change to economies and lives.