Founder

SANDILE SHABANGU (STARTUPGUY)

Better known as the StartupGuy, Sandile Shabangu is the Founder & CEO of the Startup Mzansi Foundation NPC, a social enterprise supporting innovative youth entrepreneurship in South Africa.

As the Founder and CEO of Startup Mzansi, Sandile is recognized by the UNDP and AU as one of the foremost experts in entrepreneurship education; ecosystem and program architecture, governance, development and implementation; and, in fuelling entrepreneurship movements and awareness campaigns.

Sandile’s interests lies in how people use technology, believing that technology is only useful if people use and have access to it. StartupGuy has made it his mission to explore how people, education, technology and entrepreneurship can be merged together to better the lives of ordinary citizens in Africa. He believes that understanding how people use technology helps business use technology to build value into people’s lives. Creating better experiences, more useful products, deeper relationships and more engaging ideas.

An international speaker, Sandile has an entertaining, unique, personal and engaging presentation style. He has worked with some of the world’s most prestigious organisations. Along with his experience in business, Sandile has also contributed to startup leadership programmes for the Institute of Startup Leadership at the Startup Mzansi Foundation.

Dubbed as one of South Africa’s Brightest Young Minds in 2013, a Top Young Entrepreneur in 2011, and acknowledged by his peers as one of the Top 200 young South African entrepreneurs to follow on Social Media, Sandile has won the respect of business by his determined approach to helping startups navigate a diverse and complicated world of people, education, technology and entrepreneurship (what he calls PETE).

Sandile is often called on by business magazines and websites to comment on technology, entrepreneurship, social media and Generation Y. He is also an author of note with two books under his belt.

As an entrepreneur and businessman, Sandile has built Startup Mzansi as an apex organization delivering experience-centred entrepreneurship and innovation development programs in South Africa and he continues to contribute to the future of South African startups helping them to start and stay started in business. To learn more about his work please visit www.startupguy.co.za