Global seed-stage startup competition Seedstars World will host the second edition of its annual Africa Summit in Kigali, Rwanda on December 7-9, aimed at connecting African entrepreneurs with ecosystem players, investors and corporates.
Seedstars World, which was won last year by South African mobile recruitment startup Giraffe, held its inaugural Africa Summit in Casablanca, Morocco early this year, and will now hold a second event to connect African entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship ecosystems with the world and each other.
The event, for which tickets will go on sale shortly, is supported by Microsoft, Intel, Rwanda’s Ministry of ICT, the kLab incubator, the ICT Chamber of Rwanda, Africa 2.0, and Brussels Airlines.
“After four years of hosting competitions across the world and across the African continent, we are more excited than ever about the potential for African entrepreneurs to build global businesses,” said Marcello Schermer, regional manager for Africa at Seedstars World.
“We also know that bringing startups, entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem players together will help increase connections across the continent and accelerate the growth of Africa-born global businesses, and this why we are running Seedstars Africa for the second year in a row.”
The Africa Summit will feature speakers such as kLab chief executive officer (CEO) Aphrodice Mutangana, Intel Africa and Middle East director for innovation Hitendra Naik, Rwanda Online CEO Clement Uwajeneza, Microsoft 4Afrika startup engagement lead Djiba Diallo, and Seedstars ambassadors and startups from over 15 African countries.
The event will last for three days and culminate with a full-day conference and pitch event bringing together more than 300 startup founders, entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem leaders from across Africa.
Seedstars World will host a two-day invite-only bootcamp prior to the event, where the winners of the Seedstars local competitions from across Africa will join 20 Rwandan startups to work with mentors on improving their business models, working on their growth strategy and mastering the investor pitch.
Winners have already been selected in Egypt, Tunisia, South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Senegal, with victorious startups heading to the global final in Switzerland next year. Next up is Algeria on October 29, followed by Zimbabwe on October 30 and Botswana on November 4.
This year’s programme will also give entrepreneurs the opportunity to be selected for the Seedstars Growth initiative, which would see startups raise seed investment and enter a four-month accelerator programme for early stage startups.
