Accelerate Africa unveils 10 startups at Investor Summit

Accelerate Africa, a pre-seed and seed-stage accelerator programme, successful concern with Future Africa and Prosper Africa, has unveiled its archetypal cohort of startups astatine its inaugural Demo Day and 2nd Investor Summit, which was held past week successful Lagos.

Designed to animate and prosecute African investors, founders, and ecosystem players, Invest successful the Future provided an accidental to showcase immoderate of Africa’s innovative solutions to its challenges. Panel sessions explored the concern landscape, opportunities to diversify from accepted plus classes, and hazard mitigation strategies, amongst different pertinent topics, arsenic the continent seeks to aggregate and allocate much of its ain task superior funding.

Speaking astatine the event, Co-founder, Accelerate Africa and Founding Partner, Future Africa, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, reiterated the request for section investors to prehend the opportunities to heighten superior flows and lend to Africa’s development. His words:
“Africa has travel of age! Now is the clip for section investors to emergence to conscionable the situation of mediocre concern connected the continent. Initially, we launched a pre-accelerator programme nether the presumption that the astir effectual mode to pull backing for African companies was to showcase them to American investors.” While this attack proved palmy for a period, we person observed the dwindling inflows and capitalist appetite for African startups.

He added that they had present “decided to illustration our ain way by gathering an accelerator programme that tin rival the champion successful the world. With this we are mounting a caller dawn for maturation successful Africa, declaring independency from Silicon Valley and telling the full satellite that Africa has yet travel of age. These startups are the seeds of billion-dollar African companies built to beryllium global, from time one.”

The Demo Day featured presentations from a prime radical of promising startups, offering attendees a firsthand look astatine groundbreaking ideas and disruptive innovations crossed fintech, proptech, agritech, logistics, car tech, sports tech and data, among others, covering Egypt (1), Eswatini (1), Kenya (2), and Nigeria (6). The 10 startups had the accidental to transportation their ventures to imaginable investors, vying for enactment and backing to propel their businesses to caller heights.

Mia Von Koschitzky-Kimani, Co-Founder, Accelerate Africa and Managing Partner, Future Africa, successful his ain remarks, said, “As pillars of the programme, we concentrated connected 5 cardinal areas: concern improvement and go-to-market strategies, effectual storytelling, merchandise development, squad building, and fundraising, alongside different complementary concern aspects. All of the startups worked incredibly hard implicit the eight-ball period, demonstrating singular dedication, arsenic they made important advancements successful their ventures. Hearing their testimonials today, I firmly judge that Accelerate Africa not lone met, but surpassed their expectations, though the eventual trial volition beryllium successful however overmuch concern they person implicit the coming months.”

Distinguished speakers and experts successful attendance included Nicolas Brathwaite, Founding Managing Partner of Celesta VC; Tope Awotona, CEO of Calendly; Abubakar Sulaiman, CEO of Sterling Bank; Yomi Awobokun, Managing Partner of CE-IV; Yvonne Ike, Head of Sub-Saharan Africa astatine Bank of America; Kazeem Oladepo, Chief Operations Officer of IHS Towers; Rashidat Adebisi, Chief Client Officer astatine AXA Mansard; Sadiq Usman, Director of Group Strategy and Stakeholder Relations astatine Flour Mills of Nigeria; and Bode Abifarin, erstwhile Chief Operations Officer astatine Flutterwave and Board Member, Women successful Tech, Nigeria.

Each reiterated the value of section investors championing maturation connected the continent.

On the keynote fireside chat with Nicholas Brathwaite and Tope Awotona, Oji Udezue, Venture Partner, Accelerate Africa, raised salient questions astir investing successful Africa, handling the intelligence struggles of entrepreneurship, the request for grit and tenacity, gathering for planetary relevance from Africa, and cardinal shifts successful the satellite of venture, fixed the existent trends successful exertion and artificial intelligence.

“We judge that planetary companies tin beryllium launched from this continent. Our ngo astatine Accelerate Africa is to intensify occurrence and cultivate an ecosystem of task capitalists who tin stake connected america with what we call, ‘patient and dedicated capital’ – to assistance catapult concern successful startups connected the continent.”

In effect to his last question astir proposal to entrepreneurs and startups, Nicolas Brathwaite, Founding Managing Partner of Celesta VC, answered, “Look for large problems to lick and find a large squad to assistance you lick them. Find radical who stock your vision; spouse with radical who person intelligence superior and important domain expertise. Do not beryllium acrophobic to prosecute radical who are overmuch smarter than you”.

Tope Awotona, CEO of Calendly, besides replied, “Dream big, commencement small. The 1 happening entrepreneurs request is to cognize their customers amended than anyone else. At the aforesaid time, cultivate connections with chap entrepreneurs who are astatine akin stages oregon further along, arsenic they tin connection invaluable support.” After a bid of panels and pitches, the demo time and acme concluded with cocktails and networking for investors, entrepreneurs, and manufacture experts, fostering discussions connected the opportunities for ecosystem players.

Some of the start-ups included but not constricted to Nnamdi Emefo of Afriskaut who is powering the world’s find of Africa’s apical sports endowment utilizing proprietary information and Al. His co-founders see Buggu Ussa, Joshua Osazuwa, Ogunkola Obafemi, Eby Emenike. There is besides Mwenda Mugendi from Kenya, whose outfit, AgRails collects, organises, and builds Al-powered information systems that alteration organisations to respond to and terms Africa’s clime hazard and opportunities successful real-time. Another is Remi Dada, a Nigerian, who assemblage is PropTech and is gathering the Airbnb for workspaces. They simplify discovery, setup, and absorption of offices for mid to ample teams successful Africa.

Others were Yinka lyinolakan who is gathering conversational Al that speaks and understands African languages. His co-founders were Shona Olálérè and Soji Akinlabi. Moka Lantum, different Kenyan, whose outfit, CheckUps, is making prime healthcare affordable and accessible to the uninsured and underserved via micropayments from earnings, slope deposits oregon mobile money.

Henry Okafor, a Nigerian, whose baby, Flickwheels, is simply a broad automotive suite that helps conveyance owners efficiently attraction for and support their vehicles, done on-demand car repair credits, vetted car technicians and automated conveyance repair tracking. His co-founder: Paul Edwards. Sandile Dlamini, from Eswatini, is unlocking payday to beryllium mundane for low-income workers via WhatsApp. They enactment with organisations employing blue-collar workers to supply entree their wages without having to hold until payday for exigency expenses.