Ten African entrepreneurs from five startups on the continent have been accepted into the global Endeavor network in the last 12 months, gaining access to various support services to help their companies scale.
The Endeavor initiative works to catalyse long-term economic growth by selecting, mentoring, and accelerating the best high-impact entrepreneurs worldwide, and has accepted a host of African entrepreneurs into its network in recent years.
Disrupt Africa last reported on Endeavor in May 2022, when Nigerian startup Field Intelligence was accepted into the network at the 26th Virtual International Selection Panel (vISP). Eleven more such panels have taken place in the year since, with 10 entrepreneurs from five African startups joining the Endeavor network in that time.
Endeavor now supports 2,449 entrepreneurs leading 1,512 companies in 42 markets around the world.
The 28th vISP in June 2022 saw Somto Ifezue, Odunayo Eweniyi and Joshua Chibueze of Nigerian fintech startup PiggyVest selected to join the network, while the 34th version in February of this year welcomed Ahmed Wadi of Egyptian fintech startup Money Fellows.
At the 35th vISP in March, Timothy Nuy and Tonderai Mutesva of South African fintech company Fin were selected to join, and the 36th edition in welcome Sirak Mussie of Kenyan payment gateway Flocash.
Finally, last month, the 37th vISP selected Nigerian entrepreneurs Obi Emetarom, Emeka Emetarom and Wale Onawunmi to join the network. The trio are the founders of Appzone, which in November of last year split off Qore, its legacy banking-as-a-service business, and Zone, its decentralised payments network, separating the two entities into standalone companies.
“We’re thrilled to be part of this prestigious global community. Entrepreneurship thrives on collaboration and shared learning, and Endeavor embodies this spirit. We look forward to leveraging this unique ecosystem of entrepreneurs, partners, and investors, driving our technical prowess to further levels of innovation and efficiency in the payment sector,” said Wale Onawunmi, co-founder and CTO at Zone.
