30.05.2026 AIfE June Newsletter

2026 AIfE Newsletter

June 2026

Highlights

2026 Women Side Hustle Master Classes pg 3

3 2026 TECH FOR GOOD pg 2 Digital career pathways with GIZ pg 5

2026 is a year of great change and development. From AIfE

Richard Humphries AIfE Advisory Panel Member

2026 has been a fascinating time in South Africa, and across the continent. I’ve seen first hand how many of these developments are unfolding, and sat in various government and private sector engagements to formulate the way forward.

Key public engagement issues include Digital Transformation in the Public Sector, as well as the handling of the advent of AI and a new policy to help guide South Africa.

At the heart of the dialogues is the battle for inclusivity: How do we ensure that our youth and small businesses are included in these new developments?

It gives me great pride to be part of AIfE’s Advisory Panel, watching as the NGO unpacks work in drone tech, fintech, health tech, Gen AI, tech for women in Africa, and most recently, Tech for Good.

As a long-time journalist, policy specialist and small business advocate, these dialogues and leadership come at a time with great potential impact for youth and other communities in Africa.

My private passion is curating The 7th Administration Monitora WhatsApp Channel bringing followers updates on a range of key issues.

You can follow me at: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaCl6f4Au3aZ9xwR1t10

Coming Soon: 2026 AIfE Tech for Good publication

“If you want to build for inclusion, you don’t start with features. You start with people.” Prof Eldrid

Jordaan

AIfE is excited to announce the upcoming launch of its latest research publication, 2026 Tech for Good: How organisations can leverage tech for social impact in Africa.

The publication shares five South African case studies of entrepreneurs and organisations using technology to improve lives, strengthen communities, and create measurable social impact

As part of AIfE’s commitment to providing critical, current information to entrepreneurs, this publication assists the entrepreneurial ecosystem with real stories on making impact.

The publication will launch in July 2026. Look out for further details on the final launch date, speakers and registration information.

Supporting Digital Career Pathways with GIZ

AIfE recently supported GIZ’s Digital Skills for Jobs and Income II project through mapping employers and industry opportunities in South Africa’s digital economy. Using ML to deep dive into job portals, the NGO mapped jobs and provided insights to assist GIZ assist TVET graduates.

One of the most important insights emerging from this work is that digital job opportunities do exist, but access to them is changing.

Young people are no longer only applying to people; access is increasingly through systems career portals, company platforms, chatboxes and AI-enabled screening tools.

This means that preparing young people for work must go beyond technical skills. It also highlights the importance for how to navigate the new digital recruitment environment

Side Hustle, Smart Hustle: AIfE’s Women Entrepreneur Talk Series

As part of AIfE’s entrepreneurship initiatives pillar, we hosted the 2026 Women Entrepreneur Side Hustle Talk Series, a three-part masterclass series designed to provide practical support to women entrepreneurs, professionals, and side hustlers navigating the changing world of work.

The series was rooted in AIfE’s broader mandate to ignite opportunities for inclusive entrepreneurship with a focus on entrepreneurship initiatives It responds to a very real challenge: in today’s economic climate, multiple income streams are no longer optional, they are an important part of financial resilience

Talk 1: Build Your Side Hustle

Explored how women can turn transferable skills such as public speaking, podcasting, facilitation, and moderation into income streams.

Talk 2: Money Talk

Focused on helping participants understand profitability, pricing, financial management, funding readiness, and sustainable growth.

Talk 3: Marketing Your Side Hustle

Explored how AI and digital tools can help entrepreneurs market their side hustles with greater clarity, consistency, and confidence. 01 02 03 Missed a masterclass?

Recordings from the 2026 Women Entrepreneurs Side Hustle Series are now available on our Patreon. If you missed any of the sessions or would like to revisit the insights and supporting resources shared, you can access them there. Participants who paid for the webinar will receive a special access link with the relevant viewing permissions

https://www.patreon.com/cw/AIfE_AfricanInstituteforEntrepreneurship

At AIfE, our framework is for knowledge and information.

We seek to develop research that helps entrepreneurs to leverage the power of technology, design innovative businesses, leverage new opportunities, and contribute to job creation and economic growth.

What’s important to an NGO values – linking to UN SDGs

It is critically important to recognise the importance of the United National Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) as an overarching framework within which development and impact work takes place

AIfE embraces the UN-SDGs as part of its core values. In particular, the NGO operates under five key SDGS:

SDG4 Gender equality

SDG8 Decent work and economic growth

SDG9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure

SDG10 Reduced inequalities

SDG17 Partnerships for the goals

The NGO welcomes partnerships, collaborations, thought leadership dialogues, initiatives and projects that embrace a vision and commitment to entrepreneurship ecosystem in Africa and seek to meet the UN-SDG for the future

For more information or to explore a collaboration, please contact us at: enquiries@aife.africa We look forward to engaging with like-minded partners who share our vision for inclusive, innovation-led development..

Meet the AIfE Board of Directors and Advisory Panel

Board of Directors Advisory Panel

The Power of Referrals

The team at AIfE is committed to assisting entrepreneurs and our colleagues and staff with referrals.

We recognise that word of mouth is a key contributor to business – it’s 20% to 50% of all purchasing decisions and influences up to 92% of trust-building.

Over the past 4 ½ years, AIfE has provided referrals for more than 35 entrepreneurs and others, assisting them in new business, for positions of influence, new jobs and other areas.

There are fewer greater things one entrepreneur can do for another than give a referral. It also means that the organisation is responsible for the performance, behaviour and ethos of those we recommend.

We take this responsibility seriously, and do our best to ensure we provide the type of feedback that we would like to receive as employers and with subcontractors.

If you’d like to know more about how we operate, please contact us on info@aife.africa and we’ll be happy to set up a meeting to take you and your organisation through how AIfE seeks to assist those in the entrepreneur ecosystem.