Cape Town Social Innovation Bootcamp
In partnership with StartupBootcamp Afritech

Solve a local problem in South Africa


Join our next cohort accelerating innovation towards the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals by solving a social, health or environmental problem in South Africa. Learn to apply a proven social entrepreneurship framework alongside a cohort of innovators. Receive 1-1 mentorship to design your solution and pitch, and receive initial investor feedback.

Teams that validate interest for their solution will be eligible to receive an investment offer from our partner fund.

Key Features


Apply MIT's "Disciplined Entrepreneurship", Google Venture's "Sprint", HubSpot's "Flywheel" and "Theory of Change" frameworks to design and test your solution. Startupbootcamp AfriTech has sourced several innovation challenges from the local community.


Expert Mentors from Startupbootcamp AfriTech and BonBillo provide guidance to design your solution and pitch. Learn from successful local entrepreneurs and corporate innovation leaders.


Work alongside local entrepreneurs in a vibrant environment with office space and amenities at the Old Foundry, Ideas Cartel, Greenpoint. Accommodation with a single room is included at a guest house in Observatory, managed by our award-winning local hosts VA Corps.


Understand and appreciate South Africa through excursions to the Townships, Robben Island, Table Mountain, Cape Point and Boulders Beach. Experience the Aquila Safari with the Big Five on show.

Cape Town Impact Bootcamp January 2020 Demo Day
Cape Town Impact Bootcamp January 2020 Demo Day
Visit to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison before the fall of apartheid
Visit to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison before the fall of apartheid
Old Foundry at Ideas Cartel, Green Point, Cape Town
Old Foundry at Ideas Cartel, Green Point, Cape Town
Teams working at Ideas Cartels
Teams working at Ideas Cartels
Site visit to Yoco, a leading Fintech startup, with Bradley Wattrus, Co-Founder and CFO, sharing his learnings
Site visit to Yoco, a leading Fintech startup, with Bradley Wattrus, Co-Founder and CFO, sharing his learnings
Matthew Smith, Co-Founder at Pineapple, a leading Insure-tech startup, sharing his journey
Matthew Smith, Co-Founder at Pineapple, a leading Insure-tech startup, sharing his journey
Experience the Aquila Safari with the Big Five on show
Experience the Aquila Safari with the Big Five on show
Excursion to Cape Point
Excursion to Cape Point
Trek up Lions Head
Trek up Lions Head
Visit to Boulders Beach
Visit to Boulders Beach
Dinner at Green Point, Cape Town
Dinner at Green Point, Cape Town

Program Overview


Local challenges, a proven entrepreneurship framework and mentorship to design and test your solution

We provide key elements social innovators need to solve a problem: Local context and challenges, a proven framework for rapidly designing and testing a solution, access to top advisors and industry experts, an accomplished peer group, a vibrant workspace, residence and local excursions.

Day 1 - 2 - Participants arrive

Participants arrive and check in to their residence.

Day 3 - 4 - Program Introduction, Visit to the Constantia Vineyards

Program orientation and introduction.

Excursion to the stunning Constantia Vineyards.

Day 5 - 6 - Select a Problem and Identify your Target Customer

Apply “Disciplined Entrepreneurship” and “Sprint” frameworks to Select a Problem and Identify your Target Customer.

Day 7 - 8 - Design your Solution

Apply “Sprint” to design and test your solutions with customers and “Disciplined Entrepreneurship” to define your value proposition, core and competitive positioning.

Day 9 - Design your Customer Acquisition Strategy

Design your go-to-market and customer acquisition strategy.

Day 10 - 11 - Tours of Robben Island, Cape Point, Boulders Beach and Table Mountain

Excursion to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison before the fall of apartheid.  

Tour of Cape Town’s stunning attractions including Cape Point, Boulders Beach with its colony of African Penguins and Table Mountain.

Day 12 - 13 - Design your Business Model, Social Impact and Pitch

Design your business model to maximize value creation for customers and align timing of value creation to your payouts.  

Develop your Theory of Change with clear impact metrics to communicate your social impact with all stakeholders.

Design your pitch to the local innovation community.

Day 14 - Demo Day Pitches

Pitch your solution to the local innovation community in Cape Town.

Day 15 - Aquila Safari

The Aquila Safari, a two-hour drive from Cape Town, is an incredible experience with the Big Five on show.

What participants say?

Jabulani Kunene
Jabulani Kunene
Software Engineer, ParkUpp
The one thing I took away from Bonbillos incredible program is my new found confidence in global thinking... Throughout the whole program I was constantly surprised at how much I was learning. Proof that there is no one standard way to become a successful entrepreneur.
Cape Town Social Innovation Bootcamp 2020
Palesa Moloi
Palesa Moloi
Co-Founder, ParkUpp
Really awesome enjoyable experience. High learning environment mixed with a lot of fund and travel. Highly recommended. We had a lot of high impact, rapid fire rounds of lectures, activities and a pitch/demo day to potential investors. We also visited local startups: LULA and YOCO who shared their journey on how they built their companies. Every startup needs to go through a programme such as this where it gives exposure to international content on how to build a business with a mix of local startup learnings.
Cape Town Social Innovation Bootcamp 2020
Luntu Ayabulela Quntana
Luntu Ayabulela Quntana
Founder, Bizquad
The Bootcamp far exceeded any expectations I had. The quality of the content and the people delivering was top class and I feel I grew in ways I did not know I could...Collaborating with other start-ups and seeing the synergies in our respective journeys brought about great learning.
Cape Town Social Innovation Bootcamp 2020
Xolile Xaba
Xolile Xaba
Founder, Car Park
Working with BonBillo has been an amazing experience...
I really liked how they pushed me towards the right direction about the problem we are trying to solve. I also got a chance to learn a lot about my country's history and I also experienced the beauty of South Africa.
Cape Town Social Innovation Bootcamp 2020
Panya Chheng
Panya Chheng
Founder, Medyear
Entrepreneurs, like the friends I made during this program, will be the ones who will shape the future.As for Medyear, we found out we could meet a niche need within the HIV/AIDS narrative...I had the best time and came away with so much. Big heartfelt thank you to the BonBillo team and SBC team, and others (Oliver, Papa Trill, etc).
Cape Town Social Innovation Bootcamp 2020

Pricing


Price of $2,450. This includes co-working space, events and excursions. It excludes flights to Cape Town, accommodation, daily food and commute.

Who is the program for?


Entrepreneurs and innovators interested in solving South Africa’s problems, expanding into South Africa and building a team in South Africa. 

University students interested in exploring a social impact startup focused on South Africa.