Sona Mahendra Email & Phone Number

South Africa

As a Venture Builder, I work with idea-stage founders to refine and validate their concepts and help them become VC-backable.(54 Collective VC was previously branded as Founders Factory Africa)

I manage the Scale programme, an accelerator programme for Seed to Series A startups, where I ensure founders have an excellent programme experience, they gain value from our support services and implement process improvements.

South Africa

I manage the Scale programme where I ensure founders have an excellent programme experience, they gain value from our programme offering and support process improvements.We're fuelling the early stage entrepreneurs driving Africa's startup economy and hence driving prosperity across the continent. Our main verticals : AgriTech, HealthTech and FinTech.We're busy building and scaling 88 tech African startups over 5 years.🚀

Personal blog : Curating thoughts, trends, content and start-ups relating to the Biotech industry in (South) AfricaSite : https://biologybycode.com/

Curating, writing and posting relevant content on Social Media on a freelance basis.

Curating, writing and posting relevant content on Social Media on a freelance basis.

Responsible for- All operational tasks in the company (co-ordinating all activities in the business)- Management of the core team - Corporate projects of high value e.g. Growthpoint, Kaizer Chiefs and Microsoft - Managing the development of the company's tech platform

Johannesburg Area, South Africa

http://www.tryadbiotec.com/Co-founder of TRYAD, a biotechnology start-up in Johannesburg. Our mission is to solve the problem of toxic and environmentally unfriendly chemical colourants used in the textile industry by producing better alternatives using microorganisms.Key successes up to date:- Acceptance into and completion of incubation programme at OneBio, Africa's Biotech Incubator- Grant application approved by TIA (Technology Innovation Agency) under their Grassroots Innovation Programme (GIP)- Won Wits University's entrepreneurship pitch competition in 2019- Ranked top 15 out of 6000 applications worldwide in H&M's Global Change Award Competition- Ranked top 50 out of 400 applications worldwide in Tommy Hilfiger's Fashion Frontier Challenge

Bsc, Molecular Biology

Activities and Societies: Safe Zone Ally - Community support group on Wits Campus Final Year Majors: - Biochemistry and Cell Biology.

Post Graduate Studies, Business Administration, Distinction

Modules: - General management environment - Business ethics and corporate governance - Social responsibility and environmental management.

Certificate: Principles Of Project Management, Distinction

High School

Subjects at Matric level: - Core Math - English - L.O - Accounting - Life Science - Physical Science - History