Seedstars Summit Africa reaches its peak

9 Dec 2019

Seedstars World, a seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes, has come to its peak during the latest edition Seedstars Summit Africa in South Africa.

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Seedstars selected Roque Online (Angola), Crop2Cash (Nigeria), Exuus (Rwanda), Pezesha (Kenya), OKO Finance (Mali), Nadji.bi Gambia (The Gambia), Nvoicia (Ghana), Vectra (South Africa), Afrikamart (Senegal), Teheca (Uganda), amongst the most promising startups from the continent.

In addition, a wildcard was given to Txapita from Mozambique to participate in the global summit as well. They will represent the African region at the Seedstars Summit 2020 in Lausanne, Switzerland and compete for the title of the Seedstars Global Winner, and up to USD 500,000 in equity investment and other prizes.

The other startups invited to pitch were Track Your Build (Sierra Leone), Yetu Pic (DRC), Sheria Kiganjani (Tanzania), Apptorney (Zambia), Digital Renter (Cameroon), Ocliya (Malawi), Eco Warriors (Mauritius, Lifiled (Côte d’Ivoire), GlocalTravel.io (Zimbabwe), Mohiri (Botswana), Passafree (Cape Verde), Macquarie Medical Care (Namibia), WhyToyz (South Africa).

Additional prizes were awarded to Zafree Papers, from Ethiopia, who won a US$10,000 grant prize for its business as the winner of the Land Restoration Prize in partnership with DOEN, as well as OKO finance from Mali who will receive three months access to the investment readiness program as the winner of the Job Creation Prize in partnership with the African Development Bank.

As part of the Seedstars Summit Africa mandate to achieve better gender equality in partnership with the German Corporation and GIZ, the summit invited an all-women judging panel consisting of: Lyndsey Vandament (investment director at Social Venture Fund Global Partnerships), Amanda Cotterman (partner at Equalife Capital), Anne-Marie Chidzero (CIO at FSD Africa), Rapelang Rabana (founder and chair at Rekindle Learning), Absa Gningue (innovation officer at the African Development Bank), Vivan Nwakah (founder at Medsaf), and Anicha Abdul (managing director of EP Management and Consultancy Services).

The Summit also hosted a series of keynote speeches from Rapelang Rabana, Kathomi Njeru, Jason Eisen, Chris Lwanga and Vivian Nwakah.