It's been a while since I had time to reflect and update my blog. Where did May go? After my US trip in April, things have been a little hectic.

I spent the first week of May in SA meeting Partners, Govt officials, seeing our facilities and programs and discussing our plans with the local Microsoft team - who are really something. We made some good connections while on the ground: HPV-A and Enablis both finance start-ups and are keen to work with us. Several partners are looking to grow export revenues and target markets outside SA, or raise VC funding for growth.

I was hugely impressed at what David and team have achieved thus far and in a relatively short time, with e.g. SmartXchange in Durban, JCSE in Joburg, Citi in Cape Town.

SA is a vibrant economy but, like many emerging markets, it can still be a challenging environment. The Reconstruction and Development program in 1994 set out an ambitious course for economic improvement, redressing the imbalance that existed post Apartheid, when so many were excluded, lacking access to skills and employment. SA recorded 10 years of strong economic growth since and in January 2004 the President signed the BEE Act. Actually the BEE strategy doc provides good bedtime reading. Investment in BEE is massive: in 2002 the Govt allocated R2.2bn and a further R1.3bn in loans was provided by Khula - 79% to BEE's and 56% to women-owned businesses. Enablis are funding entrepreneurs in conjunction with Khula: two funds of R50m and R100m and 300+ member entrepreneurs in their network.

Mmabatho Matiwane who leads the DTI's Gender and Women's Empowerment Unit is an impressive creature. In 2006 the Govt decided to focus on this as a jobs/wealth creation strategy. They set up SAWEN to get more women into enterprise and they now have a network of 5,000 women entrepreneurs in 9 provinces with 4 offices in the main centres already and more planned, providing walk-in centres for business advice and mentorship. They also launched a fund to support women-led companies which, from memory, is around R500m. We're discussing how to support the TWIB program which helps women-led companies embrace technology and become more successful. I'm also working on a very cool project with Trestle co-funded by VFI focused on finding more 'girl geeks'.

While presenting on a panel at the INSEAD Alumni re-union event in Paris last Friday, I pointed out how SA has such a large proportion of women in senior policy-making roles in Govt and how European country cabinets and boardrooms are not so representative. This rather lively debate was moderated beautifully by Frank Brown who tabled the notion of quotas like they have applied in SA (30% of Govt positions will be held by women) and in Norway (women should comprise 40% of public-listed companies boards). Sitting in a room on the Fountainbleu campus it really didn't seem that much of an issue - smart, successful women (and men) were everywhere. It's enough to give you an inferiority complex. Not only is Ninie Wang an INSEAD MBA grad, she's young, driven, attractive, dynamic, fun, and running her own company in Beijing which is launching a new website and platform to connect and empower senior citizens in China.

Another event, this time organised by CIDA at the British Embassy in Brussels, addressed the issue of "improving the lingua franca in Creative Industries financing" and I found myself on a panel - a rather ecclectic mix - including Wendy Malem (Centre for Fashion Enterprise), Mark Fenwick (NStar Finance) and Leon Hill (Universal Music). I thought I was out of my depth when I realised a penchant for Jimmy Choo and Christian Louboutin did not in fact qualify me to talk about investment in fashion but nevertheless it proved a fascinating event and I made some great connections. One of which was an introduction via Sydney Levinson to Kaospilot. A business school with a difference, n'est pas?

While in Brussels I also had the opportunity to meet Javier Echarri who heads up EVCA. Georges Noel is one of the panelists at the event I am busy organising in Brussels on 11/12 June. We should have 100+ investors and start-ups attending day one. From there I took off to Dublin to check in with the MS team there on proposed start-up engagement plans and meet up with Enterprise Ireland, IDA and Science Foundation Ireland. Great meeting. Much to do. Managed to squeeze in a visit to MSR in Cambridge and witness a day of awesome future technology. Then back to London to meet with PERA, NESTA and EBAN, UKIBC and TiE - with whom we are teeing up some very cool joint activities for the coming year.

Ah, so that's where May went.....