Seven South African tech entrepreneurs find their opportunity to test the European market at Dublin’s Dogpatch Labs. For a third year in a row, the Irish Tech Challenge hosts a South African showcase boasting a range of digital platforms from Climate Tech to FinTech.

“Our mission at Dogpatch is to create an innovation ecosystem that supports entrepreneurs. The South African entrepreneurs joining us for an immersion week are developing solutions to address critical sustainability challenges. Our own Irish entrepreneurs can learn how we can incorporate this mindset into our own tech ecosystem, while supporting the South Africans in rolling out their technologies to the rest of the world,” said Ashley Shak, Head of Sustainability and Innovation Programmes at Dogpatch Labs. 

The South African entrepreneurs have been invited to Dogpatch Labs in Dublin’s Digital Docklands to pitch to a select group of potential investors this month. This year’s showcase tears down the ‘boys club’ image of tech startups with good gender parity in the cohort — three of the seven founders are women. What is also unique about the group is that each solution they bring to the table directly addresses at least two Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), echoing last year’s theme of social-tech entrepreneurship which is a common thread that runs through the South African tech ecosystem.

Michelle Geere, Lead Founder of Adbot breaks down the barrier of entry to online advertising for small to medium sized businesses. Her startup Adbot, makes online advertising easy, effective and accessible to small and medium businesses. 

“We are laser focused on channels that are optimal for conversion. We are positioning ourselves as a focused solution for global SMEs with AI-driven online ads, freeing them to focus on their business’ growth” says Geere.

Charnte Marthinus, Lead Founder of SmartView Technology has goes to market with a SaaS Solution that helps customers to simplify their utility management so they can take advantage of actionable insights that can help the reduce the cost of water and electricity. 

“We are revolutionizing facility management with AI-driven predictive maintenance, customizable dashboards, and integrated sustainability, our system transforms data into actionable insights” says Marthinus.

Priaash Ramadeen, Lead Founder of The Awareness Company, a data and AI company that has launched HYDRA, a software product that helps enterprise business to use data insight to increase their sustainability efforts but not at the expense of operational and financial efficiency.

“We focus on commercial properties, infrastructure sites and corporate enterprises, We help them adopt a holistic approach to the golden triangle of sustainability – finance, operations and impact. Sustainability and profit today are no longer mutually exclusive. With HYDRA, organizations can achieve both, balancing operational efficiency with sustainable impact and climate action.”

Jabulani Nyembe, Lead Founder of Athena, has found a way for patients to split their medical bills into monthly instalments, so they can get the medical care they need when they need it. Patients experience cashflow issues due to the rising cost of living crisis and the lack of affordable and comprehensive healthcare coverage. On the other hand, doctors have a limited patient base because of the affordability of their services and they lose out on cashflow due to long payment cycles and an unclear payment structure from medical schemes. 

“Athena allows patients to split their medical bills into monthly instalments, so they can get the medical care they need when they need it. We also help doctors provide affordable payment options to patients, broadening their client base and reducing the risk of collections. In summary, we are a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), for healthcare.”

Kgololo Lekoma, Lead Founder of credipple has found an HRTech solution that to connects companies across the world to trusted talent with in-demand skills to unlock more business capabilities, particularly in the context of remote work. 

“We help businesses to source and vet talent using remote workplace simulations so potential hires can signal themselves as the best candidate, saving talent acquisition time and money on sourcing, screening and vetting. We also use rewards to incentivize candidates to prioritize top performance and continued improvement.” says Lekoma.

Ahren Posthumus, Lead Founder of Momint recognises that there is a funding gap for renewable energy projects worldwide, not because of a lack of funding, but because those with capital are struggling to find the projects. Those who do find the projects do so at a high cost and with long onboarding timelines. Blockchain powered Green Tech / Fintech hybrid Momint is an Asset Marketplace for global fractional funding and trade of renewable energy assets. 

“We are accelerating clean energy globally, fractionally and securely. We use blockchain technology to help capital find profitable, renewable energy projects 100 times faster and cheaper. This enables us to fractionalize, finance and automate the process to ensure clean and affordable energy, whilst creating income opportunities as well.” says Posthumus.

While not strictly a digital platform, the third female founder in the cohort, Prudence Simelane, has a Green Tech solution that addresses carbon emissions of fossil fuels. South Africa is the highest producer of coal on the African continent, which has several negative environmental and social impacts. Simelane’s startup SAMANJALO is reducing carbon emissions by extending the circularity of coal waste. They use geopolymer technology to turn fly ash into different environmentally green products that can be used in different industries. 

“We are currently using the geopolymer technology to create bricks that have 3x higher strength than existing ordinary products. With this technology, possibilities are endless on the kind of green products that we can create from this fly ash. We that currently plagues our society. says Simelane.