FAQ's

Our partner, Investec, is determined to grow entrepreneurship in Africa, and has already awarded over 300 bursaries to promising entrepreneurs. If you are passionate about your business idea, we strongly encourage you to apply. In the unlikely event that you are not granted a bursary, there will be no obligation for you to continue with the course.

Startup School was founded by some of South Africa’s most successful entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, and is supported by Investec, a bank with a truly entrepreneurial spirit and culture.

The course will give you best-in-class entrepreneurial education, help you to foster an entrepreneurial mindset and support your journey through our holistic ecosystem of support.

If you have an entrepreneurial mindset, a business, or even just a business idea, you can apply. You will be required to successfully complete the online application process, and a short bootcamp. The bootcamp phase is covered in the first two weeks of the course where you are critically evaluated before you can continue with the remaining course modules. You do not need to live in SA, or be a South African citizen, to apply.

info@startupschool.ac or support@startupschool.ac

Each course provides entrepreneurs with three types of support, technical, general and business coaching support. Support is available Monday to Friday between 8am and 5pm and you can expect a 24 hour response time. Technical and general support are available for any administrative or technical queries, while your Coach will ensure you are supported academically, receive feedback and guidance on your weekly activities, and remain well-informed regarding course happenings. Information and contact details regarding support will be provided in the orientation module.

We offer various online courses, each designed to equip you with the skills, tools and support you'll need to start and grow a sustainable, profitable business in Africa. Our current course offering includes our flagship Entrepreneurship course, as well as Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Leadership for Entrepreneurs. There are further courses in development, so we encourage you to follow our social media pages to hear about new courses and specials first.

It is prize money and not debt/equity funding, that will be awarded to the most enterprising entrepreneurs by a panel of experts. Terms and conditions do apply.

Definitely. Together with other registered entrepreneurs on the course, you will have access to a discussion forum where you will be able to exchange thoughts, ideas and tips with fellow startup owners. You will also have opportunities to join live webinars.

Startup School entrepreneurs who complete a course will benefit from practical and relevant content and activities developed by experienced entrepreneurs and recognised academics. Our tailored insights and feedback enable entrepreneurs to enhance their business knowledge and acumen from ideation all the way through to business and strategy execution. In addition, you will become part of Investec’s and Startup School’s holistic ecosystem of entrepreneurial support.

This course aims to enable entrepreneurs to start and manage a business, or scale an existing business.

The bootcamp phase takes place over the first two weeks of any course. During this phase, you will be required to complete all the activities and reflections in order for you to continue on the course. The bootcamp gives you an opportunity to ease into the course, and to show your commitment to developing yourself as an entrepreneur.

As we continue to grow our course offering, the course fee structure will be revised. Please refer to the course application page for more details.

Once applications open and you have submitted yours, we will review the application and let you know the outcome within two weeks prior to the course commencing. Thereafter, you will be provided with your login details and orientation information.

Each course is different. One week is considered to be one module. Each week will consist of approximately 6 to 8 hours of learning time.

If you successfully complete the course, build a defendable business plan and shape a viable business model you are better positioned to attract potential investors and funding.

Yes, all of the content, activities and support are accessible online. You will never be required to attend any course events in person. You can learn at your own pace, however, there are activity deadlines and occasional webinars that will need to be diarised.

As long as you need! You will have lifetime access to the course content after successfully completing the course.