Fellow Celebrations – A 2023 Retrospective

05 Dec Fellow Celebrations – A 2023 Retrospective

2023 has been a year full of amazing achievements and ventures from Fellows. We are delighted to share these feats achieved by Fellows throughout the year and look forward to the new heights that Fellows reach next year.  

• Congratulations to Fellows Ben Shaw and Lorne Hallendorff on the release of their book, The First Kudu! The book is about their journey building HouseME from Zero to One and beyond. The book takes you on the roller coaster ride of a start-up – the rise, the journey, and the lessons along the way. It is now available for purchase at Exclusive Books or Kindle. You can also support them by sharing your feedback and takeaways from the book with our community. More

• Daniel Tate – “I am happy to confirm that, having recently completed the MPhil in International Relations at the University of Oxford, I have started the DPhil (PhD) in International Relations, also at Oxford. I am very excited to continue my research on the politics of multinational energy cooperation in Africa. My studies will continue to be funded by my Rhodes Scholarship, as well as a St Catherine’s College Graduate Scholarship.”

• Nicole Dunn – together with her team raised $5.2 million for her company Revio. More

• Ben Shaw – Is a co-host for The Shapers Podcast. More

• Mittera Sibanda – Founder of Trust in Tenderness which has been selected to be a part of the @ArielleForAfrica entrepreneur showcase. More

• Penang Shirindza – Started his Master of Commerce qualification. More

• Ndabenhle Ntshangase – Has recently expanded his business, AirStudent to cater to corporate travel. More 

• Sanelisiwe Njobe and Kurhula Baloyi for winning the Standard Chartered Bank South Africa prize. More 

• Nicole Dunn and the Ravio team were awarded the South African Fintech Startup of the year by SCZA. More

• Thato Schermer and the Zoie Health team were awarded the South African Health Tech startup of the year by SCZA. More

• Denislav Marinov and Amnotech team were finalists in the climate category at the SCZA awards.

• Lesedi Mochadibane created a platform called Freenotes.co.za and within 3 weeks it reached over 1000 site visits. Freenotes.co.za is a website that offers high quality math notes completely for free to students from grade 7 to matric. More

• Advocate Thando Gumede was appointed as a South African Commissioner for Gender Equality. More

• Michelle du Plessis started an LLM degree at Cornell University. More

• Elijah Djan took part in the UIA Next Generation City Action World Congress in Copenhagen. More

• Congratulations to Stan Shikwambana and Musa Maluleka for being part of the News24 Young Mandelas of the Future list. 

• The Pocket Couch, founded by Onkgopotse Khumalo, was featured in the August/September issue of Fairlady Magazine. 

• Rarestep, founded by Wandile Sibisi, featured in Ventureburn. More

• Xabiso Lombo was hired for a one-year internship and on-the-job training on social entrepreneurship at Akosha.

• Nqobile Mabaso was hired for a one-year internship and on-the-job training on social entrepreneurship at Akosha.

• Matthew Piper together with his partner Karidas Tshintsholo completed a minority equity deal with ABSA Group in their business, Khula! More

• Daniel Ndima was one of the finalists for the upcoming All Africa Business Leaders Awards 2023, in the category: Innovator of the Year 2023! More

• Khensani Nyambi  started a new job as a business analyst at McKinsey & Co.

• Candice Jacobs featured on Radio786 promoting the AGEC and primary Champions 2D game and also travelled the SADC region with Marcel Manikum as representatives of AGEC.  

• Chase Newel started a new position as a Graduate Mechanical Engineer at Kantey & Templet.

• Courtney Koopman received the Commonweath scholarship and started a Masters in Education Futures at Edinburgh University.

• Fiona Nzau started a position as a Candidate Attorney at Bowman’s in Johannesburg. 

• Alinaswe Lusengo was accepted to study a Master’s in Media, Communication and Development at LSE. 

• Simamkele Jamjam completed an internship at TotalEnergies in France as a Geology Intern. 

• Tiyani Rikhotso was accepted to study a Masters Program in the History of Design and Curatorial Studies at the Parsons School of Design in New York with a partial scholarship. 

• Ndabenhle Ntshangase, CEO of AirStudent, spoke at the Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit in Swartkopmund, Namibia. 

• Khanya Ndzululeka CA (SA) and CEO of Setana Capital spoke at the Triga Ventures 2023 Academy on the 13th and 20th June 2023. Tickets available via https://lnkd.in/ddgGvCej 

• Several of our Fellows, including Onkgopotse Khumalo, Elijah Djan and Dineo Lioma are Fellows of Triga Ventures. See here: Fellows | Triga Ventures

• Matthew Piper together with his partner Karidas Tshintsholo were included in the June/July 2023 issue of Forbes Africa for being agritech innovators. More

• Thandeka Xaba and the DAV team won the Venture Capitalist of the year at the GITEX Africa Awards in Morocco. More 

• Maurice Madiba became the new Head of Primary Markets at the JSE! More

• Keitumetse Pule’s company, Legal Standpoint was accepted into the LAW FOR ALL LegalTech Accelerator Fund! More 

• Akosua Koranteng became a Senior Associate: Evaluation for Development Practice at Genesis Analytics! More 

• Muzi Mthombeni was appointed the Head of Strategy at Wonder. More

• Lethabo Motsoaledi made it to the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe. More

• Denislav Marinov won the most promising entrepreneur at the AfricArena summit! More

We extend a huge congratulations to all of the Fellows listed above for their inspiring achievements, as well as a congratulations to any Fellows whose recent achievements we may not be aware of. May you continue to aim high and achieve higher in 2024!