ABOUT THE UCT GSB SOLUTION SPACE

A catalyst for Africa’s entrepreneurial growth

The Solution Space at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) is your gateway to entrepreneurship, innovation, and research, providing a nexus between business and academia and bridging historic divides with learning spaces in the V&A Waterfront and across town in Philippi, at the heart of an actively engaged local community.

We are your partner in progress, providing essential resources, support, and solutions for both high-impact early-stage start-ups and corporate innovation. Solution Space helps nurture and build innovation capacity and offers entrepreneurship training and support to foster growth in this dynamic sector.

Solution Space was founded in 2014 at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business with initial capital support from the Vice-Chancellor’s Strategic Award. In 2015 the MTN Group became our founding partner. In 2020 ayoba, a subsidiary of MTN, became our primary funder. Our journey began at our Waterfront hub, where we remain rooted to this day.

In 2016 we expanded our reach with the establishment of an additional workspace in Philippi Village, a mixed-use entrepreneurial hub. As a founding tenant we have created a vital centre for information access, entrepreneurial support, and skills development. Our unwavering focus on youth development and entrepreneurship has led to fruitful collaborations with diverse stakeholders.

Our vision is clear - to be an innovation and entrepreneurship hub at the forefront of Africa's socioeconomic development; one that has strong community networks and draws on local insights to create opportunities for economic inclusion. Our mission is unwavering - to address socioeconomic challenges by curating a dynamic ecosystem of support, research, learning and development opportunities to African start-ups and entrepreneurs, to enable them to turn their ideas into viable businesses which thrive and grow.

Our approach

At Solution Space we believe that innovation flourishes when African entrepreneurs are empowered to transform their communities through entrepreneurship. Our commitment is unwavering. We provide access to resources, corporate partners, mentors, advisory services, co-working spaces, speakers, and partnerships. We exist to inspire, nurture, and equip entrepreneurs, and we firmly believe that innovation thrives through collaboration.