The FUTURE HAMBURG AWARD provides international startups with the opportunity to benefit from the city’s thriving digital scene and to expand their European business. Startups with a focus on digital business models can submit their applications until 5 January 2019. The winning teams will gain access to one of Hamburg’s most exclusive coworking spaces for up to six months.

2018 has been a tumultuous one, in the the entrepreneurial sector. We have seen several startups grow from concept pitches into well-respected brands in their fields and others shutter their doors. To celebrate the achievements of a long, hard slog of a year, on the 1st of November, Heavy Chef and Nedgroup Investments opened a public poll for nominations of SA’s Most Exciting Startups of 2018, and the response we received was outstanding. The event on Tuesday 4th December 2018 at Workshop17 to showcase the winners was even more outstanding.

Startups Unearthed Africa is an online competition aimed at raising the profile of African hardware or software companies across the global mining sector, with applications open to any business across the continent that has a prototype, product or service that can impact industry. Companies do not need to have worked on a mining project before, they just need to have exciting technology solutions that can make a difference.

Sarah has worked at Guardian Technologies for nearly a decade now. She started out her career at the company as an entry-level sales associate and has since worked her way up to a sales executive. She makes well over $100,000 a year, loves her team, her company and her life as a whole. When her more entrepreneurial friends poke fun at her for being a “nine-to-fiver” or “not dreaming big enough” she doesn’t mind. In fact, she finds it amusing.

New York-based Film Director and Youtuber, Dan Mace, is heading home to Cape Town to teach locals how to become YouTube stars at a Heavy Chef Masterclass. Mace will be joined by his manager and serial entrepreneur, Willie Morris who founded (and sold) a subscription company with digital phenomenon Gary Vaynerchuck, the social reality superstar and chairman of VaynerX.

The results are in. After 1,000 total entries and 141 unique entries were received for the Nedgroup Investments and Heavy Chef ‘SA’s Top 5 Most Exciting Startups’ event on the 4th December 2018. Entries were closed on Friday 23 November, and yesterday a shortlist of 12 startups were announced. Today, we reveal the final five.

On the 6th December 2018, Heavy Chef in partnership with Nedgroup Investments, is bringing Silicon Valley ‘Master of Scale’ Gabriel Luna-Ostaseski to Cape Town for an exclusive four-hour Masterclass on scaling businesses. Fred Roed, CEO of Heavy Chef spoke to Gabe in anticipation of his visit.

After just a few weeks of calling for nominations, close to 1,000 total entries and 141 unique entries were received for the Nedgroup Investments and Heavy Chef ‘SA’s Top 5 Most Exciting Startups’ event on the 4th December 2018. Entries were closed on Friday 23 November, and yesterday a shortlist of 12 startups were announced.

Arthur Goldstuck is confidently the best-known tech researcher working on the African continent. On the Heavy Chef stage, Arthur unpacked the Visa / World Wide Worx / Platinum Seed eCommerce survey results. On an evening that also featured Yuppiechef's Andrew Smith and Bradley Elliott talking about various aspects of the online retail landscape, Arthur's presentation dove headfirst into the details, gleaning key takeouts and some surprising statistics.

UI / UX design whizz Jacques Oberholzer, co-founder of boutique design firm Now Boarding, has worked with some of the most widely-used apps and websites in the world. With clients such as Property24, Standard Bank, Gyft and fintech companies across Europe, Jacques knows a thing or two about bringing a concept to reality. In this insightful talk, Jacques shares his philosophy around standing out in a crowed marketplace.

Bradley Elliott is the CEO of South African digital marketing agency Platinum Seed, which partnered with Visa and research firm World Wide Worx to create the largest ever Online Retail survey conducted in Africa, focusing on eCommerce. Elliott delivered an inspiring talk, originating in some of the major signals from China’s eCommerce market and then reverting to lessons from African eCommerce trends. Elliott ended his talk with five key takeouts to learn from the African example.

Andrew Smith started Yuppiechef with his dear friend Shane Dryden over a decade ago. From selling a handful of products in its first year, it is a now an internationally recognised business that is generating hundreds of millions in turnover. In this action-packed presentation in November 2018, Andrew explains why, in the face of retail doom and gloom, Yuppiechef's decision to launch its retails stores across South Africa was a no-brainer.