Telkom proudly supports homegrown South African innovation as a partner of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC+Africa). Organized by the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), GEC+Africa brings together entrepreneurs and leaders from over 50 African nations, united in their commitment to fostering entrepreneurial activity across their countries.
South Africa’s startup ecosystem teems with innovative entrepreneurs eager to expand their ventures. The congress aims to link entrepreneurs with premier global resources and investor networks, establish platforms for collaborative ecosystems, and advocate for policies conducive to sustainable growth for small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) across the African continent.
Randall Abrahams, Telkom Group Executive of Digital Solutions, affirms Telkom’s unwavering dedication to small-business owners who invest their creativity, hard work, and resources into building businesses. As partners of GEC+Africa, Telkom is honored to contribute to a movement advancing entrepreneurship, bolstering economies, and nurturing African communities.
Since 2015, Telkom has supported over 2600 local, disadvantaged SMMEs through its Enterprise and Supplier Development Programme, Telkom FutureMakers. This initiative provides incubation, investment, connectivity, and business development services, aimed at enhancing market access opportunities, driving ICT innovation, and fostering inclusive participation of youth-, women-, and black-owned SMMEs in Telkom’s supply and value chain.
As part of this year’s GEC+Africa, Telkom is sponsoring five SMMEs to attend the event, including founders such as Mamello Mofokeng of Saturated, Loyiso Vatsha of Mapha Logistics, Benjamin Tshefu of Horizontal Gravity T/A Bang Capital, Thabo Tsolo of Space Salad, and Lesego Ndlovu of Ball Talent. Through this global exposure, Telkom’s FutureMakers program aims to ignite creativity, challenge conventional thinking, and empower entrepreneurs to develop new value propositions for global success.
“Telkom has long appreciated the role that South Africa’s entrepreneurs play for our country,” says Phetla. “Our commitment to the development of entrepreneurs is not merely lip service – we actively invest in SMMEs so that they can, in turn, contribute to the South African economy. We relentlessly seek to make the ground fertile for entrepreneurship and innovation to thrive. This mandate is an accurate reflection of Telkom’s ultimate purpose – to seamlessly connect people to better lives.”