The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Legatum Centre for Development and Entrepreneurship has been announced as a sponsor of the upcoming DEMO Africa conference, to be held in Nigeria this month.
The Legatum Centre said its US$5,000 sponsorship of the pan-African entrepreneurship event aims to further its mission of catalyzing entrepreneurship for broad-based prosperity in low-income countries.
The Centre is known for its work administering programmes and events that promote and shape the discourse on bottom-up development. It is best known for its Legatum Fellowship at MIT for students committed to developing for-profit enterprises in developing countries.
“With entrepreneurs needing to fully understand the situation before they can settle to work, having partners that pass this knowledge is a key component of success. I commend the Legatum Centre’s efforts in playing their role effectively,” said Mbugua Njihia, DEMO Africa events director.
The DEMO Africa event is scheduled to take place on September 24 and 25 in Lagos, Nigeria, and will feature a number of sub-events.
This year’s conference sees the introduction of knowledge streams, to delve into critical topics such as business modelling, scaling businesses, creating an unfair advantage, and raising capital.
A number of top industry players, including Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, Jorn Lyseggen, founder of Ghana’s Meltwater Entrrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), Tomi Davies, president of the African Business Angels Network (ABAN), and iROKO TV chief executive officer (CEO) Jason Njoku, will lead the discussions.
Disrupt Africa reported 30 startups are also to launch their products across 12 categories, pitching live at the event.
The LIONS@FRICA Summit investor roundtable forum will also be co-located with the DEMO Africa event.
