The third annual MEST Africa Summit will take place in Cape Town on June 18-20, bringing together leading global investors, executives and entrepreneurs to discuss the pan-African startup landscape.
Hosted by the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), which has now been active in Africa for 10 years, the MEST Africa Summit this year goes pan-African for the first time having previously take place in Ghana and Nigeria under the title Africa Tech Summit.
Stakeholders from Africa, Silicon Valley and Europe will come together to network and discuss trends, challenges and opportunities affecting markets across the continent, under the theme “The Year of the African Scaleup?”.
MEST is also announcing the MEST Africa Challenge, a pitch competition open from April 1 in Nairobi, Lagos, Accra and Cape Town. The final pitch event for the competition will be held on day two of the summit and will include winners from each city’s regional events, which will be held in late April and early May.
“We’re excited to bring together leading players in the tech and investment space from across the continent and the globe once again, this time in our new home in Cape Town,” MEST managing director Aaron Fu said.
“The MEST Africa Summit serves as a meeting ground for pan-African entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem partners, and this year looks to ignite discussion around the real challenges and opportunities businesses face when reaching scale, as the startup space in Africa continues to mature.”
Panel discussions during the summit will highlight those companies looking to scale to new African markets and the partners who can help them succeed. Topics include a debate over the best African country to start a business, and a discussion of the latest fintech, agri-tech and blockchain innovations.
MEST is currently accepting applications for partners and speakers, with early sponsors including Merck, MTN, AfricArena, SiMoDiSa, Wesgro, AlphaCode and Silicon Cape.
