Entrepreneur in Residence
Sibanye-Stillwater, in partnership with Savant Capital is looking for pro-active, ambitious, and resourceful individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit. If you have an interest in being hands-on and involved with the development and strategic business support of our iXS initiative and with our future portfolio of early-stage technology businesses then why not join the 2023 iXS-Savant Entrepreneur In Residence Programme?
Sibanye-Stillwater and Savant’s iXS programme is ready to kick off its second year of operation, in line with its goal of accelerating innovation in the South African context. Through entrepreneur and innovator development, and early-stage capital investment, the programme achieved some promising results in year one, including:
- 2 investments into start-ups to date, with another 3 likely to be invested in 2022 for a total of ~R50m investment for Y1
- An accelerator programme (Build Programme) launched that currently actively supports 5 start-ups
- 3 EIRs onboarded
- 2 IIRs brought into the fold to assist startups
As an entrepreneur in residence (EIR) for the iXS programme, you are able to gain valuable experience and knowledge in the incubation and venture capital funding of start-ups in support of corporate innovation in mining, as well as various other industries.
We are looking to increase our resources in anticipation of an increase in the number of companies we support. The programme is designed to identify and grow candidates to fill potential future opportunities in Sibanye-Stillwater or externally. These may include joining the start-up companies on a fulltime basis or, alternatively, to have acquired the knowhow and experience within the industry to start your own venture or potentially even join Savant.
Note: This opportunity is a paid 12 month programme under the iXS initiative and successful candidates will be employed and working directly for Savant Capital. Savant has been selected as a partner in the iXS initiative based on their capability, proficiency, and extensive experience in this space.
Responsibilities
- Carry out market research, write business plans and develop business models suitable for funding applications.
- Hands-on work in specific incubatee companies driving the execution of the business plans and providing any and all other general commercial support.
- Wide range of tasks associated with Savant’s mandate and general activities.
Requirements
- Masters’ degree, MBA, or business focused Bachelors’ degree with a technical affinity and some commercial experience – post grad qualification is preferable.
- Strong analytical and critical thinking skills
- Friendly, optimistic go-getter and self-starter
- A general desire to work in a start-up and venture capital environment
Perks
- Scope to learn about, take initiative on and make real difference in early-stage technology businesses
- Sight of and interaction with Savant’s full portfolio of client and investee companies
- Guidance from our team of experienced commercialisation managers
- Exposure to a range of start-up companies and what is happening at the coal face
- Opportunity to work with our sister entity, the Savant Fund Manager, a fully FSCA registered early-stage VC fund and its staff of venture capital professionals
- Exceptional candidates may be eligible for a full-time position after the EIR programme
- Other potential outcomes include potentially joining one of the companies the candidate was involved in during the programme, the candidate establishing an own business during or after the programme, etc.
Sibanye-Stillwater company profile
Sibanye-Stillwater is a leading international precious metals mining company, with a diverse portfolio of platinum group metal (PGM) operations in the United States and Southern Africa, gold operations and projects in South Africa, and copper, gold and PGM exploration properties in North and South America.
More recently, Sibanye-Stillwater has advanced its global diversification strategy to encompass the battery metal space by investing in several projects and operations in North America, Finland and France.
Established in 2013, the Group has grown and diversified into one of the world’s largest primary producers of platinum, palladium and rhodium and is also a top tier gold producer, ranking third globally on a gold-equivalent basis. It also produces other PGMs, such as iridium and ruthenium, and chrome copper and nickel as by-products. It’s latest acquisitions have also expanded its exposure to green energy metals such as lithium, nickel and zinc.
Not only does the Group mine PGMs, but it is also the world’s leading global recycler and processor of spent PGM catalytic converter materials. In 2020, 840,000 oz of its total PGM output was recycled at its Columbus metallurgical business in Montana, in the most environmentally friendly manner possible.
Savant Capital company profile
Founded in 2006, Savant is a venture capital, business support / enterprise development, and strategic advisory group, specialising in hardware technologies. Savant’s goal is to assist inventors and entrepreneurs overcome the major hurdles to establishing successful and sustainable businesses. This generally entails working with portfolio companies on a hands-on basis: assisting with fundraising, finalising product development and industrialisation, supporting local and global market launches as well as developing the entrepreneurial skills of the inventors. Savant uses its experience to ensure the portfolio companies avoid typical start-up pitfalls.
Savant has an exemplary track record, with >80% of the companies that Savant has worked with having:
- successfully raised funding (or are in the process of raising funds)
- are undergoing a pre-commercialisation phase, or
- have successfully entered local and global markets
Some examples of successful Savant portfolio that have benefitted from involvement from EIRs in our previous years’ programmes include:
Further information about Sibanye-Stillwater and Savant Capital can be found at www.sibanyestillwater.com and www.savant.co.za respectively.
Want to join us?
To apply, please send a brief motivation and your CV to joinus@savant.co.za
Applications close 25 November 2022 and the programme will kick off from February 2023.
