SASI - Where from here?

The launch of the South African Start-up Index was well received and many journalist that attended the event at Wits Business School was very excited about the concept. Many of the questions was around how SA entrepreneurs can get access to the index and the requirements for listing on the index. Others were about data integrity and how entrepreneurs will be able to influence some of the criteria to make themselves look good. These are all relevant questions and in writing this piece I hope to perhaps provide more clarity on these issues.

The first point is to understand that SASI is an "awareness" index and that it is designed to draw attention to South African companies that have the potential to make it on the global stage. Global significance in terms of services and products is a critical component of having a listing on SASI as our aim is to provide a global benchmark similar to the The Bay Startup Index in the US and the UK Telegraph Growth Company Index in the UK. Secondly, the index service provider, YouNoodle, have a team of research analyst that verify all information supplied by entrepreneurs before a listing is granted. This includes educational background and qualifications, finance secured if any, and the stage of the business in terms growth. In addition to this, YouNoodle has developed an algorithm that tracks publicly available data from media sources and the internet to rank the reaction to the company's products and services. All these components make up a YouNoodle Score which provides the index value for each company.

SASI's biggest goal is to create a sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem in South Africa that facilitates growth and development for local entrepreneurs. This is why we follow a collaboration approach to allow for wide consultation with the public and private sector to create a community that share collaborative capital to get access to skills, finance and markets through the activities in the ecosystem. Essentially, we hope to reinforce the fact that we all have a role to play to support local entrepreneurs so they are inspired to think BIG and unleash their potential.

In the next few months we hope to secure relationships with various partners and institutions that will allow us to strengthen the components of the South African entrepreneurship ecosystem. SASI will be employed as a platform to facilitate ongoing awareness about the local start-up community through a global benchmark that measures realtime trends and give entrepreneurs a voice beyond their current market.