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The origin

More than 2 decades ago, an impact organisation was born at the tip of Africa in Cape Town.

The Cape IT Initiative and the Bandwidth Barn was established in 1999, by a group of civic activists with a vision to build a future-fit, inclusive society through technology and innovation. They dreamed of a future where all Africans could become part of the digital economy to build an innovative, resilient society through entrepreneurial and digital skills development and by stimulating economic clusters with opportunity for growth within the ecosystem.

The journey

The organisation evolved into the Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative (CiTi) in 2015 and the Bandwidth Barn, known as the oldest tech incubator in Africa, expanded to the informal economy and the township of Khayelitsha to provide dedicated support to entrepreneurs that have been excluded from participating in the digital economy.

UVU Africa identified the lack of financial inclusion as being a constraint to participation for many people in the economy. In 2015, a FinTech cluster was launched to support innovation and financial inclusion in the financial services industry and to support blockchain initiatives. Barclays Rise selected CiTi’s Cape Town FinTech cluster as the home for its Africa FinTech Accelerator and Innovation Hub resulting in a substantial investment in the local economy. UVU Africa’s FinTech cluster was internationally recognised as being a major catalyst for Cape Town’s FinTech boom and becoming the tech capital of Africa.

The organisation also initiated bespoke interventions to address specific areas that could unlock substantial growth such as CapaCiTi Digital Career Accelerator, which produces digitally skilled labour for a growing tech sector and a campus was opened in Cape Town and Johannesburg. As an answer to the question of how we support the improvement of education outcomes in Africa, UVU Africa established Injini, an edtech-focussed incubator helping businesses in Pan Africa to grow and scale.

The latest addition to the group, BioCiTi, was established to stimulate access to the bioeconomy and unlock opportunities for entrepreneurs and scientists with a state-of-the-art shared laboratory and incubation programme.

The future

Growing our physical presence and impact from Cape Town to Johannesburg and in 2022 to Kigali and supporting entrepreneurs in East Africa, UVU Africa and the Bandwidth Barn is now evolving its brand to reflect our future vision more clearly. Our new name and visual identity reaches back into the wisdom of our past and stretches forward into the possibilities of our future!

UVU Africa designs and builds a future-fit inclusive society through innovation & technology. We drive inclusive growth of the digital economy through business incubation, skills development, and through key projects that unlock industry growth as well as ecosystem development through open innovation and collaboration. We build future societies, today.

UVUmbuzi is a Swahili verb for invent, discover, or reveal and used as a synonym for innovation. UVU also happens to be a palindrome (a word fractal). UVU in sound, design and meaning takes our core mission and manifests it in the world.

We take our lead from our core purpose of designing & creating an optimal future through innovation. We draw inspiration from nature’s optimal design structure – fractals – and the conscious use of fractal technology in centuries-old African artisanal, civic, architectural, design, cultural and spiritual practices.

A fractal is a simple pattern that repeats itself at different scales – a tree is a branch of a branch of a branch; mountains are peaks within peaks; clouds are puffs of puffs, and so on. Fractals are patterns, that can be described mathematically, that allow the most innovation, creativity, and resilience to exist, and their emergent intelligence powers the universe. It’s been shown that fractal code systems used in ancient African practices are the basis of what we now know as binary code, which powers the digital world.

A powerful modern African brand that reflects our inclusive values while being inspirational, ambitious, and trusted. Established in 1999, the organisation has significantly impacted the growth of the Cape Town and South African technology and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

UVU Africa is extending & evolving its existing work and impact achieved in the last two decades even further throughout the African continent.

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Our Story 1

Over 20+ years of Innovation

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Cluster Muster of ICT
A catalytic event that brought a group of civic activists together. They wanted to ensure a future-fit, inclusive society could be achieved in Cape Town, South Africa and beyond.
Incorporated CiTi
CiTi was established as an NPC (Not-for-Profit Company) to build and energise an inclusive digital economy in Cape Town.
CiTi in Ovenstone House - incubator for Bandwidth Barn
First physical premises dedicated to CiTi.
Launch of Bandwidth Barn in Lower Long Street
Milestone achieved in bringing like minded people together with the first shared co-working space for tech businesses. The Barn becomes the centre of tech ecosystem and events in Cape Town. Co-funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (National Government).
VeloCiTi launches
Incubation and entrepreneurial programmes for tech startups and businesses that want to scale.
Bandwidth Barn expands to new premises in Buitengracht Street
 Bandwidth Barn moves to bigger premises to allow for expansion.
CapaCiTi is launched
Industry indicated a shortage of tech/digital skills, CapaCiTi launched to assist with training young South Africans for the digital/tech skill needs of business.
Bandwidth Barn expansion and move to Woodstock Exchange Building as anchor tenant
Bandwidth Barn moves to Woodstock to enable further expansion. ‘Anchor tenant’ in developing this underdeveloped part of the city as a tech and creative node.
CapaCiTi launches BASA
Focus on skills development of unemployed graduates with the first post-grad diploma (delivered with the University of Cape Town). Programme demonstrated great success, serving as a launchpad for aspiring Business Analysts in the digital realm.
KWBK launches
Launch of Khayelitsha Bandwidth Barn to contribute to Township Economy and digital skills transformation in informal settlements.
First Women In Business programme launched
Developed to support female-owned businesses to adopt tech tools that can improve efficiency within their businesses.
Telkom Futuremakers
Partnership for Innovation, Incubation and Acceleration, CiTi signs a multi-million rand 3-year project investment with National Telco.
FinTech cluster launched
CiTi identifies the lack of financial inclusion as being a constraint to participation for many people in the economy. A FinTech cluster was launched to support innovation in the financial services industry and to support blockchain as well as cryptocurrency initiatives.
Blockchain Academy launches at the Bandwidth Barn
A first of its kind, the Blockchain Academy was established in 2015 at the Bandwidth Barn.
Name change from Cape IT Initiative to Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative
Poised for growth and focus on creating a future-fit, inclusive society through innovation and technology. The change recognises that IT and ICT is no longer a sector and that a digitisation of the entire economy is underway.
Barclays Rise becomes a member FinTech cluster with $1.5m investment
Barclays Rise (now known as Absa Work in Progress), provides shared innovation space and incubation for fintech startups and facilitates co-creation of FinTech solutions.
Launch of The Hub @ Media24
CiTi in partnership with Media24 (Naspers) openes The Hub @ Media24, with the purpose of training developers to fill the digital media skills pipeline.
Launch of Thomson Reuters Labs
Thomson Reuters launches Thomson Reuters Labs™ at Bandwidth Barn, fostering global growth by engaging with the regional innovation ecosystem. The Lab introduces Bankable Farmer, connecting banks with small African farmers through data and technology, promoting financial inclusion for those without credit profile.
Launch of TravelTech Cluster
The TravelTech cluster created, focusing on creating linkages between developers, entrepreneurs, innovators and business within the digital travel value chain.
Launch of high-speed (300mps), low latency, uncontended connectivity in the Bandwidth Barn
Telkom and CiTi partners to launch a high-speed network, targeting big data analysts and gamers. The organisations unveil a 300Mbps fibre connection at the opening of The Basement co-working space and innovation lab in the Woodstock Exchange in Cape Town.
Launched Africa’s first EdTech cluster
Recognising the transformative role of technology in education, CiTi has launches Africa's first EdTech Open Innovation Cluster. This initiative is designed to support and empower startups dedicated to improving learning outcomes and reshaping the education system in South Africa and throughout the continent.
Launch FinTech Academy in South Africa
Combined international expertise, along with local core capability to bridge the cutting edge of FinTech trends internationally with relevant South and African applicability.
First Royal Academy of Engineering programme facilitated by CiTi
First Pan African initiative with CiTi appointed as training and incubation partner for the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize for 2018 and 2019. Cohort finalists included Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa. 2018
BCX and CiTi partnership with CiTiX
BCX (a premier end-to-end digital solutions partner in Africa) committed to investing $7.6 million to grow scarce digital skills in ICT infrastructure and software programming alongside cyber security, fintech and artificial intelligence over three years, in partnership with CiTi.
CiTi unlocks $19m to support technology skills and job creation in South Africa
South African National Treasury (part of SA government) runs a competitive bid process through Jobs Fund, an initiative aimed at stimulating employment. In a year-long selection process with over a 1 000 competitive bids, CapaCiTi is recognised as one of the winners and awarded a $5.7m grant over 3 years, with the obligation of raising another $11.5m in match funding and creating 3 000 jobs for unemployed youth.
Launch of new CapaCiTi campuses in Cape Town and Johannesburg
To accommodate the scale up of students, CapaCiTi launches two state-of-the-art campuses in two major cities in South Africa accommodating 300 students in total.
Launched specialised EdTech incubator - Injini
Injini, a specialised incubator for startups across Africa is launched. Startups recognised with the capabilities to influence education and learning across the entire education value chain from early childhood development until tertiary education and beyond.
Publication of Endeavor Insight Report
An evaluation and network analysis of the Cape Town - Stellenbosch Tech Sector, part of a world-wide best practice (as developed by Endeavor Insight), was conducted. Concluding that Cape Town is the most productive tech ecosystem in Africa, the report recognised CiTi’s significant role in cluster creation and catalysing the digital ecosystem, which led to this outcome.
Explore Data Science Academy launches campus at Bandwidth Barn
The Explore Data Science Academy leads the way in teaching students how to solve real world problems with the latest tools, algorithms and platforms. Providing credited 1-year long Data Science training to young people from across South Africa.
Digital skills partnership launch
A powerful national partnership to grow South Africa's youth talent for the digital economy with founding organisations Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative (CiTi), Explore Data Science Academy, WeThinkCode, Tshimologong and the Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering at WITS University
Launched specialised incubator and lab for Biotech - BioCiTi
Specialised incubator for startups across Africa within the biotech sector and launch of first non-university open access and innovation laboratory on the continent.
CapaCiTi launched learning platform and App
CapaCiTi’s experiential learning focus results in the development of a holistic training and internship programme designed to integrate Future World of Work skills and technical training. CapaCiTi develops a learning platform that is hosted on OpenEdx (platform behind Harvard and MIT's edX) and a data sensitive application that compliments the online learning platform used on-site.
Expansion to East Africa
CiTi expands its transformative reach into East Africa with the opening of a new office in Kigali. The strategic move is set to bolster the region's digital economy by providing local talent and startups with access to CiTi’s unique blend of business incubation, skill development, and technological innovation. This expansion marks a significant step in CiTi’s mission to foster inclusive growth and innovation across the continent.
Rebranded to UVU Africa
Embracing a broader vision and commitment, the Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative is changed to UVU Africa. This change reflects an expanded mission to drive technological innovation and inclusive growth across the entire African continent. This change is accompanied with changes across the Group, including UVU Bio (BioCiTi), UVU Accelerate (VeloCiTi) and CAPACITI (CapaCiTi).
Launch of Bioeconomy Skills Centre
In response to growing skills development needs in the industry, UVU Bio sets stage for bioeconomy advancement with new skills training facility. Bioeconomy Skills Centre launched in Woodstock, Cape Town.
Launch of UVU Bio lab in Kigali, Rwanda
Second open access lab launched by UVU Bio in Kigali, Rwanda to support the emerging bioeconomy. Rwanda Bioeconomy Hub to provide skills development training, world-class lab facilities and business incubation.

The board

UVU NPC board is made of a mix of experienced entrepreneurs, business executives and scientists.

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Joshin Raghubar

Chair of the Board

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Ian Merrington

 CEO

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Ashley Minnaar

 CFO

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Brendan Hughes

Group Legal Counsel

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Fiona Tabraham

Board Member

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Raven Naidoo

Board Member

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Fabian Whate

 Board Member

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Ian Russel

 Board Member

Supported by

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UVU Africa is a Non-Profit Company with a mission to build future-fit, inclusive societies through technology and innovation.

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Joshin Raghubar

Chair of the Board

Joshin Raghubar is an African entrepreneur in the media, marketing, and technology sectors. He is engaged in the evolving role of entrepreneurship, trust and innovation in the ‘good society’. He is the founder and Executive Chairperson of iKineo Ventures.

Joshin serves as the chairperson of the Bandwidth Barn, Africa’s largest non-profit incubator and accelerator for technology businesses; and chairperson of the Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative (CiTi), the public/private sector agency tasked with development of the region as a technology and innovation cluster. 

Joshin also serves as a non-executive director of both the Africa Leadership Initiative (Southern Africa) and the African Leadership Network. He is a fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative and the Aspen Institute’s Global Leaders Network, a fellow of the United States-Southern African Centre for Leadership and Public Values, and a member of the Bertelsmann Foundation’s global Transformation Thinkers program. He is also in the 2016 class of Yale World Fellows. Joshin has a business science (honours) degree from the University of Cape Town, and a masters in development studies from the University of the Western Cape’s Institute for Social Development.

Ian Merrington

CEO

Ian Merrington is CEO of The Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative and The Bandwidth Barn and is also a Director of Injini, Africa’s first EdTech Incubator.  The Bandwidth Barn is Africa’s oldest technology incubator and is to-day regarded as one of the leading Technology business incubators in the world.

Ian is currently a member of the Economic War Room for Tech & BPO established by the WCGov, he also sat on the advisory boards of the University of Cape Town’s Information Systems department and also the Computer Sciences department. He was appointed an ambassador for AfricaCom 2018 (Africa’s largest Tech event) in recognition of his leadership role in driving Africa’s digital transformation.

Ian is passionate about the role of innovation in solving the challenges faced by modern societies. He believes that inclusive innovation can improve lives across the continent.

In his current role as CEO of CiTi, he has a focus on supporting and incubating inclusive tech enabled innovation, seeding technology clusters, creating job ready candidates for the Industry 4.0 and also accelerating tech entrepreneurs.

Ashley Minnaar

CFO

Ashley Minnaar is the CFO for The Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative (CiTi) and also sits on the board of Bandwidth Barn (Pty) Ltd and BioCiTi NPC. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has 20 years commercial experience.

After completing his articles he joined Platinum Group as their Accountant for 2 years.Thereafter he spent 8 years with Storm Telecom (Pty) Ltd and acted as Financial Director for 6 of these.Storm Telecom were the pioneers in VOIP technology in South Africa.He played a key role in selling the business to Vox Telecom for R350 million in 2008.He then joined the Slick Restaurant Group as CFO for 2 years.The Slick Restaurant Group ran a successful chain of restaurants and owned the well-known franchise, St Elmos.

In 2011 he started his own consultancy business which has been in operation for 8 years.In 2014 he joined CiTi on a consultancy basis and officially became CFO for CiTi in 2018.

Brendan Hughes

Brendan Hughes is a legal professional and technology entrepreneur with an LLB from the University of Cape Town.

He has more than 15 years of experience in working with technology start-ups. Brendan currently serves as Chairperson of Injini EdTech Ventures, Africa’s leading EdTech incubator investing into EdTech start-ups across the African continent, and as a director of the BioCiTi biotechnology lab and incubator.

He is a co-founder of the LexVision Group, an international group of companies licensing and supporting legal industry technology solutions, including ShareBrief.com, MedBrief.co.uk and LexFutures.com.

Brendan also serves on the board of the Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative and on the Advisory Board of the University of Cape Town Faculty of Law.

Fiona Tabraham

Fiona Tabraham is a strategic workforce development expert with a career founded on a resolute commitment to inclusivity, talent nurturing, and societal impact. Chief Executive of CAPACITI Digital Career Accelerator, Fiona’s passion for equity has charted pathways across numerous organisations, guiding bespoke Talent Initiatives, Future Leadership Development Programs, and transformative Career Pathway Development. Her tenure at Network Rail bore inclusive talent strategies, STEM advocacy, and innovative Graduate, Apprentice, and Internship initiatives. A trusted partner to a number of governmental, corporate and impact driven entities, Fiona empowers individuals and organisations, fostering diverse recruitment practices and innovative talent strategies. Fiona’s impact transcends the tech sector, positioning her as a leading voice for inclusive digital career initiatives.

Raven Naidoo

Dr Raven Naidoo has a PhD in Physics from the University of Cape Town and a Masters degree in the Management of Technology and Innovation from the University of Sussex, UK. He is the CEO of Radian Corporation.

Raven has near unparalleled experience of business and economic development, especially in the technology sector. Since 1994 he has initiated and managed a number of government sponsored and other business development initiatives, including director and architect of the Governments premier small business development projects on Technology and Innovation Management, and Technology and Corporate Strategy; consultant to the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Coordinator of the World Bank study on Technical and Marketing Support to South African SMEs; consultant to the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Coordinator of the British ODA investigation into Business Support Services; member of the Dept of Communications e-Commerce reference team; Senior Consultant to the Cape Town Unicity on the development of an IT Strategy for the Cape Town Unicity and the Development of a Smart City; Senior Consultant to Wesgro on the State of the ICT Industry in the Western Cape; and consultant to Siemens SA on Mobile Business and the Internet.

He was the founding managing Director of Capricorn Park, and was also the managing director of the WorldOnline division of Vodacom. Most recently he has been active in the formation of a Primgro, a black empowerment holding company as well as undertaking business development projects. He has board level positions at The Cape Innovation Technology Initiative (CiTi) and the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).

Fabian Whate

Fabian has a Bachelor of Business Science degree from the University of Cape Town and a Masters in Business Administration from the London Business School. Fabian started his career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. Fabian then spent a number of years as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan as well as at UBS. Fabian is the Head of Naspers Foundry, the Naspers Group’s R1.4 billion South Africa focussed early stage tech investment vehicle. Preceding this, Fabian was Head of Africa Private Equity Co-investments at South Suez Capital. Fabian serves as an investment committee member at Thuso Capital, which is focussed on incubating first time black South African private markets fund managers. Fabian was appointed as a Non-Executive Member on the Board at Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative in 2021.

Fabian Whate

Fabian has a Bachelor of Business Science degree from the University of Cape Town and a Masters in Business Administration from the London Business School. Fabian started his career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. Fabian then spent a number of years as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan as well as at UBS. Fabian is the Head of Naspers Foundry, the Naspers Group’s R1.4 billion South Africa focussed early stage tech investment vehicle. Preceding this, Fabian was Head of Africa Private Equity Co-investments at South Suez Capital. Fabian serves as an investment committee member at Thuso Capital, which is focussed on incubating first time black South African private markets fund managers. Fabian was appointed as a Non-Executive Member on the Board at Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative in 2021.

Ian Russel

Ian Russel graduated from Swansea University with a Bachelor of Science in economics and received an MBA in Supply Chain Management from the University of Birmingham. After school, Russel spent many years working with Barclays in various positions such as Head of Smartsourcing, Client Relationship Director, and Operations Director. In May 2017, after Barclays, he went on to work at Absa and Telkom until finding a position at BCX as the Chief Executive Officer. In July 2018, he founded the Disrupting Consultancy, a company that works with boards and CEO’s to create new strategic direction, reposition themselves in the eyes of society, and incubate young businesses to fulfil the full potential to take on the world. Russel recently released his book, The Other End of Telescope, which focuses on business growth and success.