Allan Gray Entrepreneurship Challenge winners: trip to Silicon Valley, San Francisco 5 - 17 December 2019
By Sara Gopal
The much anticipated trip to Silicon Valley finally arrived on Thursday 5th December 2019.
I was excited about the trip, but felt anxious about not having my parents accompany me.
After almost 30 tiring hours from the time of departure, I finally arrived at San Francisco International Airport with fellow winners, Shriyaa and Saheel, and chaperone, Lethabo.
The itinerary was packed and we took every possible opportunity to make the trip as fruitful as possible.
Among other attractions, we visited the Intel Museum, Facebook and Apple as well as Google where we received gift bags with branded merchandise and had lunch with vice president, John Solomon, a fellow South African.
We met many inspiring and innovative entrepreneurs.
One that I was most inspired by is Komal Ahmad, founder and CEO of Copia, a for profit food recovery organisation that uses technology to redistribute food from businesses that have excess to non profit organisations in need.
Some of the highlights of the trip was experiencing the virtual reality lab at Standford University, attending the Teen Tech Global Summit and visiting NASA Ames Research Centre.
We made the most of any free time by exploring famous tourist attractions in San Francisco including Union Square, Fisherman's Wharf and Golden Gate Bridge.
Other highlights include watching a Golden State Warriors vs NY Knicks NBA basketball game at the Chase Centre, visiting the Museum of Ice Cream, the Exploratorium and the California Academy of Sciences.
The trip was amazing and exceeded my expectations.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs du Plessis for introducing me to the Allan Gray Entrepreneurship Challenge.
Without her guidance I would not have had this enriching and memorable experience.