
SiMODiSA forum set-up for South Africa's entrepreneurs and investors to help promote the conditions necessary for entrepreneurial activity to flourish, something South Africa desperately needs. Malik Fal from the Omidyar Network opened up with some powerful numbers: By Jean-Michel Koenig
There are 50 million South Africans of which 15 million are economically active. Of these, 10 million are employed with only 5 million earning sufficient income to be registered taxpayers. This is a ticking time bomb, as he said.
Ultimately, this trajectory will not lead to a stable and prosperous society unless something dramatically changes. While small pockets of VC funding exists, our local VC industry is still in its infancy and there is not nearly enough capital available for them to invest in the promising businesses they see, particularly for funding rounds greater than R20-million.
At Triggerfish, we were fortunate to raise development funding from the Business Partners Venture Fund who stepped up to the plate after we approached over 130 investors in the last two years. Their funding gives us the resources we need to continue with our development work so that we don't lose momentum.
Triggerfish is already a significant scalable global business, with multi-million dollar revenues, producing a world-class product into a multi-trillion dollar industry undergoing rapid change. We have distributors around the world and there is simply no company better placed than us to change the way the world sees Africa - tens of millions of people in over 70 countries will see our movies.
khumba_triggerfish
Despite all of this, it was still incredibly difficult for us to raise money. One significant corporate investor turned us down because they couldn't accurately calculate their Return On Investment (ROI). This is impossible to calculate for a high-risk, growth investment. Instead the focus should be on whether or not the opportunity is real and the management team competent.
I believe the funding problem exists across the entire SME sector from the township fruit-vendor to middle-class kids working on the next big thing from their bedroom. Apartheid effectively put a bubble on South Africa's economy and even though it's ended, the bubble remains. The political and economic environment is not conducive to the growth of SMEs. At Triggerfish we have bumped up against every hurdle from constrictive IP regulations to exchange controls and funding. We know how hard it is.
Besides the difficult regulatory environment, the shortage of risk capital is probably the biggest challenge we face. We cannot expect to build the economy we need unless we start to believe in ourselves and invest in our own entrepreneurs. If people are unable to feed their families or find decent work, social unrest quickly follows. There has to be the hope that people can do something for themselves. Small business will be key to South Africa's future.
Koos Bekker is stepping down from Naspers after finding incredible success with Chinese entrepreneur, Pony Ma, who founded Tencent. News24 reports that he hopes to travel to places like Seoul and San Francisco where the future is being manufactured, and see if there are new technologies we should be trying out. I would love to invite Mr Bekker to come visit us at Triggerfish to see how we are manufacturing the future not 20 minutes from the headquarters of Naspers.
If we're not prepared to invest in local entrepreneurs, our future will look more like the riots in Venezuela or the Ukraine. South African corporates and investors need to enable funding to SMEs to kick-start growth. They need to boldly lift their appetite for risk.
At Triggerfish we are putting in place a plan to raise further funding from overseas. The risk capital we need is not available here and we cannot wait any longer. Great businesses are not started off the back of great spreadsheets. On paper it will never make sense. Like climbing Everest, it is a bloody-minded act of the will that starts with the heart and we need to find investors, with the resources and risk appetite, who understand this.
http://ventureburn.com
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
18/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
18/06/2026
PTZOptics has unveiled new Visual Reasoning demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 (Boo...
18/06/2026
IBC2026 will take place at the RAI Amsterdam from September 11-14, bringing toge...
18/06/2026
InfoComm 2026 held its first-ever Media Day on June 17, providing journalists an...
18/06/2026
FOR-A America has announced a Trade Agreements Act (TAA)-compliant LED display solution combining Alfalite's Litepix LED displays and Brompton Technology...
18/06/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level have one major thing in common: the intensity and attention to detail ramps up dur...
18/06/2026
The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) and TMRW Sports have an...
18/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has unveiled Io Xpand, a Thunderbolt 5-enabled PCIe expansion ...
18/06/2026
ESPN has announced its coverage plans for the 30th anniversary of the WNBA's...
18/06/2026
FOX Sports' Big Noon Kickoff will broadcast live from Wembley Stadium in Lon...
18/06/2026
InfoComm 2026 opened on Wednesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center, bringing t...
18/06/2026
As media companies look to deliver more live, VOD, and snackable sports content ...
18/06/2026
Top L-R: Take Me Home, The Lake
Bottom L-R: TheyDream, Union County
Free Summer Screening Series Announced
Screenings for the Local Utah Community at...
18/06/2026
Improvements & new IR content
iamReverb Audio have just launched a free update that kits their convolution reverb plug-in out with some new features and int...
18/06/2026
Modelling suite gains improved captures, iOS support & more
Two notes Audio Engineering have just announced the launch of Genome 2.0, a significant update t...
18/06/2026
New AI assistance feature, video overhaul & more
VSL have just announced the launch of Vienna Ensemble Pro 8.1 and 8.1V, a pair of major updates to their ev...
18/06/2026
The average daily TV screen time in May was 3 hours and 36 minutes, marking a clear decrease of 15 minutes compared to April. This trend proved to be much stron...
18/06/2026
Integration embeds Gracenote content intelligence, including contextual segments...
18/06/2026
AJA Video Systems unveiled Io Xpand, a high-performance Thunderbolt 5-enabled PCIe expansion chassis for AJA KONA and Corvid video and audio I/O cards. As dema...
18/06/2026
New NVRT-driven workflow enables on-demand traffic mirroring and guided troubleshooting for AV teams, integrators, and support organizations ahead of InfoComm 2...
18/06/2026
At InfoComm 2026, Mavis announced a major update to Mavis Studio, its live production app for the iPad, with new features designed to make professional AV produ...
18/06/2026
Transaction Positions Harmonic as a Pure-Play Broadband Company
Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT), the worldwide leader in virtualized broadband solutions, today a...
18/06/2026
ACT Entertainment and NETGEAR have announced a strategic partnership that establishes verified interoperability between NETGEAR Switches and key technologies fr...
18/06/2026
IBC2026 is set to bring the global media, entertainment and technology community together at the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September, enabling industry players f...
18/06/2026
Pliant Technologies is proud to introduce CrewCom Flex , the world's first frameless matrix intercom system and the only complete matrix IP-based intercom s...
18/06/2026
The XR Sports Alliance (XRSA) has announced that a new cohort of members has joined the strategic initiative: ActionStreamer, Antigravity, Creative Artists Agen...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/06/2026
Linda May Han Oh Receives Guggenheim Fellowship The Berklee professor, bassist, and composer will use the fellowship to debut Dreams of Knowing, an interdisci...
18/06/2026
Techtel delivers Haivision live streaming system for TAFE NSW St Leonards, enabl...
18/06/2026
New study reveals 10 hidden data drainers costing Brits hundreds abroad - and the holiday hotspots where you could get rinsed the mostThursday 18 June 2026
The...
18/06/2026
Thursday 18 June 2026
How to watch the 2026/27 Scottish Premiership season on Sky Sports
Which matches are Sky Sports showing on the 2026/27 Scottish Premiers...
18/06/2026
Thursday 18 June 2026
Sky Sale: Latest deals now on, with discounts on iPhone Air & 2.5Gbps speeds
The latest deals have dropped from Sky Mobile, the award-wi...
18/06/2026
FOX Advertising and Toonstar Team to Create New Opportunities for Brands in Digi...
18/06/2026
Arqiva's Crawley Court and Chalfont Grove teleports re-certified at highest World Teleport Association standard
18 June 2026, Winchester, UK - Arqiva, the ...
18/06/2026
Apple today announced changes impacting iOS apps in Brazil that reflect a recent agreement with Brazil's competition regulator, the Conselho Administrativo ...
18/06/2026
Play favorite titles from popular game libraries, keep progress synced and jump ...
18/06/2026
The digital era gave the advertising and marketing industry speed; the AI era is giving it autonomous operations.
For companies building next-generation techn...
17/06/2026
EVS has announced it has received the EcoVadis Gold Medal for sustainability performance, ranking among the top 5% of companies globally in the Technology/Mid-S...
17/06/2026
Chyron has released Weather 2.4, an update to its weather suite for broadcasters and meteorologists. The release focuses on enhancements to the DataFlow module,...
17/06/2026
VSiN, The Sports Betting Network, has announced the launch of Best Bets TV, a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel. The 24/7 channel is currently avail...
17/06/2026
DAZN's Team Whistle and Snap Inc. have announced a creator program centered ...
17/06/2026
LiveU is providing video transmission technology for broadcasters, production companies, and public safety agencies across North America's busy Summer of So...
17/06/2026
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) has announced that Laurens Grant and Jacob Ullman have joined its Board of Directors. Chief of Staf...