Applications have opened for the second edition of the MEST Africa Challenge, which is offering US$50,000 in equity investment to startups based in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Ivory Coast.
Run by pan-African training programme, seed fund, incubator and hub the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), the challenge is aimed at post-revenue, tech-enabled startups that want to expand into new markets.
Applications are open here until February 15 for the challenge, and regional pitch events will take place at the end of February. Finalists from each country will attend the MEST Africa Summit in Nairobi in June where they will compete for the US$50,000 in equity investment and the opportunity to join the MEST incubator community.
“This year we’re looking for the continent’s most exciting African scale-ups who are ready to expand into new markets, and continue building world class solutions for African problems,” said MEST managing director Aaron Fu.
The inaugural MEST Africa Challenge last year saw over 700 applications across four markets. The overall winner was Accounteer, a Nigeria-based cloud accounting company, which took home the funding and a space in the MEST Incubator Lagos.
