South Africa’s start-up landscape recorded a defining moment this quarter as Change The World (CTW), an emerging force in Africa’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, announced the winners of its 2025 accelerator programme. What began as an ambitious experiment has, in just ten weeks, become one of the country’s sharpest case studies in fast-paced founder development.
“When we launched #CTW2025, many believed it couldn’t be done,” the organisers said. “The runway was short. The vision was big. But South Africa has never been powered by what’s ‘realistic.’ It’s powered by people who build anyway.”
CTW attracted over 100 applications in just three weeks, signalling the pace at which young entrepreneurs are responding to new funding and innovation opportunities across the continent. After due diligence, 25 companies made the shortlist. The top 16 founders were then placed in a ten-day intensive bootcamp, drawing on global operators and sector experts.
From this pipeline, ten finalists earned the opportunity to pitch live in Sandton, a symbolically important venue in a country where formal investment has often remained out of reach for new founders.
CTW reports striking demographics:
- 60% women-led ventures
- 80% Black youth-led
- R100 million+ in annual traction across the cohort
- Nearly R1 billion currently being raised
These figures underscore the emergence of founders who are no longer waiting for traditional approval to enter the market. They are already shaping it.
A Rejection of the Traditional Accelerator Model
Unlike conventional accelerators that exchange funding for equity and offer uniform workshops, CTW chose a different model. It invited global operators with over R1 billion in combined exits, alongside partners including Lovable, ENS, Summit.Deals, Nutriseed, WS&O, SIZOBA GROUP, and well-known global founders such as Dmitry Koltunov (Arbor, Startup Leadership Program NYC), Daniel Ahmadizadeh (Crustdata, Y Combinator), Maxwell Danquah (Google) and Shawn from Capstone Tech LLC.
The aim was simple: to expose African founders to the standard of operational excellence required in global markets without diluting ownership.
The event opened with remarks from Deputy Minister of Small Business Development, Jane Sithole, who delivered a pointed message on the role of government and private-sector actors in unlocking investment pathways for SMMEs and start-ups.
Her speech set the tone for a frank panel discussion featuring James Mackay, Janine Thomas, Ben Dryden and Ndzavi Derrick, who examined the structural barriers constraining African founders, from inconsistent FDI flows to limited access to early-stage capital and persistent inequality.
The panel argued that Africa’s talent pipeline is strong, but the infrastructure supporting it remains uneven.
The Winning Start-ups
The evening’s top honours went to three ventures:
Flockify – Winner
Awarded R20,000 by SIZOBA GROUP × Change The World
Peloo – Second Place
Received a R64,000 ENS Legal Kickstarter Package
Surveya – Third Place
Secured access to Summit.Deals’ US$30B AUM investor network
CTW confirms that over R20 million in deals are already under discussion following the event, an impressive signal of investor appetite at a time when global venture capital flows remain cautious.
“Africa never lacked talent. It lacked platforms,” CTW said.
Flockify: A Breakthrough for Agritech
For Flockify, an agritech platform founded less than six months ago, the win marks a rapid ascent in an increasingly competitive sector. The company focuses on poultry health, smallholder productivity and food security, key pillars in a region where agriculture underpins livelihoods and national economies.
Co-founder Ayanda Chunda described the win as a historic signal:
“Africa is ready for bold, youth-led, scalable solutions. Agriculture feeds our people and sustains our communities. This win is just the beginning.”
Her co-founder, Tshepiso Malema, added a personal reflection that resonated with many founders in the room:
“Less than six months ago, Flockify was just an idea after I lost my own chicken flock to a preventable disease. Today, farmers from Malawi to Kenya use our platform. This victory belongs to them and to every young African who believes we can build world-changing technology.”
What Comes Next
CTW’s organisers emphasise that the programme is not an event but an emerging institution. Plans already underway include:
- CTW Cape Town and CTW Durban
- A dedicated CTW investment fund
- A continent-wide platform for scalable ventures
- The long-term development of Africa’s first Startup Rewards Bank
The initiative’s headline sponsor, ENS, alongside the SIZOBA GROUP, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Energy Council of South Africa, received recognition for backing the programme’s vision when it was still nascent.
Naomi Thompson, the event’s MC, was also praised for what organisers described as a “spectacular” delivery.
A Shift in the Continent’s Entrepreneurial Ambition
CTW’s rapid execution from launch to live pitches in ten weeks adds to a growing body of evidence that Africa’s start-up scene is maturing at an accelerated pace. Global investors are increasingly looking to the continent not only for market access but for innovation that can scale across emerging economies.
The message from Sandton was unmistakable. The continent is entering a phase where founders are not waiting for validation. They are building solutions shaped by local realities, global ambition and an increasingly confident youth sector.
CTW’s promised: “This is just the beginning. What we built now is only the foundation. The engine has just switched on.”
