The Ericsson AHUB, a first of its kind three-day startup-focused event at the AfricaCom conference in Cape Town, begins today, hosting startups, incubators, entrepreneurs, investors, operators and developers to showcase talent, facilitate partnerships and encourage investment and innovation.
The AHUB, presented by Ericsson in partnership with Informa and Disrupt Africa, aims to offer attendees insights on how to be a successful tech innovator in Africa, hear panel discussions focused on funding, and gain insight into how technology innovation is being developed, funded and nurtured in Africa.
A Pitch and Win session will also take place tomorrow, with five startups competing for prizes including free membership of mLab Southern Africa. Each startup will be given three minutes to pitch in front of a panel of judges, representing investors, incubators and startup experts.
Winners will receive free membership of mLab, an invitation to the AfricaCom Awards gala dinner, an interview on the AfricaCom post-show email, a guest blog post in the Com World Series blog, and a speaking slot at future AfricaCom/AHUB events.
Speakers at the event include Tim Harris, chief executive officer (CEO) of Wesgro, Silicon Cape vice chairperson Alexandra Fraser, Groupon South Africa CEO Daniel Guasco, Verone Mankou, CEO of VMK, and Silvertree Capital founding partner Manuel Koser.
The final AMPION Venture Bus of the year also culminates at the AHUB, with a pitching session to decide the winner.