TECH STARS (960)
ZongoVation Hub is an NGO that leverages technologies to promote socioeconomic development in often marginalized and disadvantaged Zongo communities. Doing so helps create a dynamic and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in Ghana.
ZongoVation Hub is a community technology innovation space dedicated to the development and growth of young entrepreneurs and startups in Ghana's Zongo communities. Founded in 2018, it helps young individuals transform their ideas into businesses by providing them with all the tools and networks they need.
Its founder and CEO, Mahmoud Jajah, is a serial entrepreneur and ecosystem builder whose vision is to transform Zongo communities into technology hubs across Africa.
ZongoVation Hub offers training programs in various technology-related fields, such as web development, graphic design, mobile application development, digital media, business development, and more. It also organizes charitable initiatives in the fields of health, education, leadership, and entrepreneurship.
Its main program is the Zongo Startup Program, which aims to identify, train, support, and finance early-stage entrepreneurs and startups from Zongo communities in Ghana. The program includes a three-month incubation period to validate prototypes, followed by a four-month acceleration phase to perfect products and business models before presenting companies to investors.
Since its creation, it has launched seven programs and trained over 100 women and men. It has supported the creation of more than four companies. It is currently leading an initiative called Zongo Tech, which aims to train and develop 100,000 entrepreneurs and technology experts from Zongo communities by 2030. To achieve that goal, it plans to set up centers in all 16 regions of Ghana and strengthen its network of local and international partners. For the moment, it can count on Ghana Tech Lab, AfriLabs, ISpace, Google, the British Council, Social Enterprise Ghana, and Digital Zongo, among others.
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He strongly believes that artificial intelligence can transform the world and create new growth and development strategies. He therefore provides companies with solutions that help them integrate AI into their operating sectors.
Marc Banoub (photo) is the CEO and founder of LyRise, a company that aims to solve the shortage of artificial intelligence (AI) expertise by creating remote AI teams. He is also a technology entrepreneur, AI trainer, and an AI and data community leader.
The Egyptian-born entrepreneur graduated from the American University in Cairo in 2014 with a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering. He then pursued his passion for AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain by attending the inaugural MIT Deep Technology Bootcamp in 2019, where he learned from world-class experts and mentors.
In 2019, he launched LyRise, a platform that connects companies with remote AI teams. His platform helps companies find, recruit, and manage skilled AI talent from around the world. It also offers training and mentoring to its AI teams to ensure they deliver high-quality solutions.
Apart from LyRise, Marc Banoub also founded Cairo AI, a community for young Egyptian machine learning, computer vision, and speech processing professionals. He also founded Lyra, a provider of AI-enabled business transformation solutions in Egypt.
Marc Banoub has led advanced AI training programs with companies such as Microsoft, enabling over 150 people to hone their skills and over 60 people to be co-certified. Since 2018, he has been the MENA (North Africa and Middle East) Ambassador of VETRI Foundation, a non-profit organization focusing on data sovereignty and ownership. Between 2016 and 2018, he worked for IGI Holding as a Technical Assistant to the CEO. He then worked for Transcendium, a catalyst for business transformations in the Middle East, as a transformation analyst for 4 months.
Marc Banoub has received several awards and recognitions for his achievements and contributions in the field of AI. For instance, in 2021, he was listed in the Forbes Middle East 30 Under 30. He also won a sponsored trip to visit executives from Google, Meta, Palantir, and many others in Silicon Valley in 2022.
Melchior Koba
More than being just an innovation space, Icealex is a dynamic and supportive community that brings together passionate, creative and committed people to make Alexandria a more prosperous city.
Icealex is a community-driven technology innovation space that aims to promote creativity, collaboration, and entrepreneurship in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. Founded in 2011 by Mohamed El-Sharkawy, an engineer with a passion for sustainable technologies and solutions, Icealex offers a variety of services and programs to support project ideas, startups, artisans, and students.
The innovation space stands out for its social and environmental commitment, seeking to provide local answers to local challenges. It offers technical workshops, rapid prototyping and digital fabrication services, project mentoring, a coworking space, networking activities, and social entrepreneurship training.
Icealex is also an international network of hubs and nodes based in Cairo (Egypt), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), and Weimar (Germany). It supports entrepreneurs through three main programs. The first, Startups of Africa, connects startup owners with mentors. It also fosters collaboration between startups to build a stronger ecosystem with more solid partnerships.
The second program is the Ladies Startups League, a program aimed at helping women-led startups validate their ideas and scale their businesses.
The last program is Startups of Alex, an incubation program launched to help develop startups and boost collaboration in the Alexandria startup ecosystem. The program is funded by Egypt's Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT).
Icealex has also launched initiatives such as the Makers of Alexandria project, which aims to highlight innovative trades that are on the verge of extinction. It organizes events such as Icebreakfast, a bimonthly gathering during which its community gathers over breakfast and exchanges knowledge on a variety of subjects.
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Habaka aims to create a culture of innovation and technology in Madagascar. By supporting the development of tech talents, it wants to contribute to socio-economic development in the country.
Habaka - which means “space” in Malagasy is a technology innovation hub that supports a community of entrepreneurs, developers, and innovators. Formerly known as Malagasy i-Hub, it was initiated, in 2011, by independent Malagasy web players. It offers various services and programs to help the local tech community develop and flourish.
It has a modern, comfortable, and well-equipped coworking space, where tech workers can access the Internet, use various modern equipment, and meet others who share their interests and goals.
The innovation hub organizes and hosts events, like the Startup Weekend, Barcamp, Webcup, ICT cafés, etc., dedicated to entrepreneurship and technology. These events offer participants opportunities to learn new skills, share ideas, and network with experts and peers.
The hub offers training on various subjects, such as web development, digital marketing, graphic design, and entrepreneurship. It also runs a program called Coder Dojo, which teaches programming and creative problem-solving to young people.
Its fablab features a range of equipment, including a 3D printer and powerful computers to enable users to customize any object. These tools and accessories enable companies to prototype their products before mass production.
Habaka currently has five communities with thousands of members and counting. Its members work in various strategic sectors such as software engineering, machine learning, robotics, smart cities, astronomy, and game development, among others.
Since 2018, the hub has been nurturing a project to set up Hay Valley, the Malagasy equivalent of US Silicon Valley. With the help of its partners AfriLabs, Orange, GIZ, ArchiCONCEPT, Network Information Center Madagascar (NIC-MG), and the Centre d'innovation et de documentation scientifique et technique (CIDST), the hub has supported some 80 startups and delivered 70 practical training courses.
Melchior Koba
By allowing farmers access to technologies and adequate markets, he helps solve some of the key challenges facing Africa. Some of those challenges include food security, poverty, and unemployment.
Karidas Tshintsholo (photo) is the founder and CEO of Khula, a South African startup that provides a marketplace and software for farmers to grow their businesses.
The tech entrepreneur attended Ekangala Comprehensive High School from 2008 to 2012. He then studied business at the University of Cape Town from 2013 to 2015. Soon after that, in 2017, he founded Khula with Matthew Piper and Jackson Dyora.
His startup aims to provide a support ecosystem connecting farmers with buyers, technical services, financing, and inputs across Africa.
Khula’s digital platform is not only a fresh produce marketplace where farmers can list their products and buyers can place orders. It also serves as an input marketplace where growers can buy seeds, fertilizers, pesticides... from verified suppliers. Khula is also a traders' platform, where traders can source products from farmers and sell them to buyers. It offers a dashboard, where farmers can access financing options from a variety of lenders.
With over 100 suppliers, more than 130 warehouses, and more than 190 agricultural advisors in South Africa, it offers more than 3,000 products from local and international suppliers and can deliver to every province and major agricultural region in its origin country. Karidas Tshintsholo, the CEO who oversees its operations, is a member of the Southern Africa Council of the International Fresh Produce Association, an association representing companies in the global fresh produce and floral supply chain.
In 2013, the tech entrepreneur co-founded MoneyTree Group, a media, publishing, and marketing company focused on youth and emerging markets/segments of the economy. Till 2017, he served as the executive director of that company. From 2014 to 2015, he was the executive project manager of Investor Games, a gamified investing training platform created by Investment Society (InvestSoc.), the South African NGO that provides “holistic, business-focused practical education at every major tertiary institution in South Africa.”
Karidas Tshintsholo has received awards throughout his entrepreneurial journey. In 2015, he became a fellow of the Anzisha Prize, a fellowship of which he has been a member of the advisory board since 2021. In 2019, he was named among the Forbes Africa 30 Under 30.
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Kosala PME offers a range of services and programs designed to inspire and support budding and existing entrepreneurs in the Congo. The incubator and accelerator has already supported a multitude of projects and start-ups.
Kosala is a platform that aims to provide tailored support and financing to facilitate the creation and development of new businesses in the Republic of Congo. Founded in 2019 by Trésor Dexter Omono, a young Congolese entrepreneur and innovator, Kosala offers a range of services and programs to help entrepreneurs achieve their goals and dreams.
It offers incubation and acceleration programs for startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Through these services, it offers entrepreneurs coaching, mentoring, training, networking, and financing opportunities. It also organizes events and workshops to promote the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation in the country.
Kosala also offers co-working spaces. Through the Kosala Académie, the incubator helps its students acquire skills in various fields, including digital, management, and entrepreneurship. It enables entrepreneurs to domicile their startup at its address and to obtain tailor-made assistance with the administrative formalities involved in setting up a business.
The incubator also builds partnerships with various public and private institutions to support the digital ecosystem in Congo. For example, in July 2023 it signed a partnership agreement with the Agence de développement de l'économie numérique (ADEN CG) to promote digital inclusion, skills development, and job creation.
On its website, Kosala indicates that it currently supports 3,750 projects and has an 85% success rate.
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Armelle Touko is a publisher who believes in the power of books to shape the minds and hearts of African children. With her daughter, she set up the digital publishing platform Adinkra Jeunesse, which offers African content to African children.
Armelle Touko (photo) is a Cameroonian-born author and publisher. She is the founder and managing partner of Adinkra Jeunesse, a digital platform offering unlimited access to African children's books. She aims to inspire and educate young readers with stories that reflect their culture.
The young publisher is a graduate of ESSTIC (Higher School of Information and Communication Sciences and Techniques (ESSTIC), where she obtained a master's degree in communications in 2007. She also holds a master's degree in marketing from ESSEC (Advanced School of Economics and Business), in 2014.
In 2018, she founded Adinkra Jeunesse with her then 10-year-old daughter Marie Gabrielle. The platform offers illustrated books, audio stories, games, coloring sheets, educational sheets, and parenting sheets in French, English, and local languages, for children aged 3 to 12.
Since 2021, Armelle Touko has been organizing writing workshops, through her 100 Petits Ecrivains program. The program aims to encourage children aged 6 to 14 to create stories on their own.
Armelle Touko is also the founder of Adinkra Femme, a collective of authors who write on subjects such as violence and women's empowerment.
She has professional experience in publishing, organizational communication, and behavior change communication. That professional career began in 2008 at Yaounde as an Editorial Manager. In 2010, she joined Alpha Assurances as Communications and Public Works Manager.
For more than five years, from 2015 to 2020, she worked as communications and social mobilization coordinator for the program for access to reproductive health services (PASSR) implemented in the Far North and East regions of Cameroon.
Armelle Touko's work has been celebrated by several awards, including the Label Innovation IFC 2022, which celebrates, supports, and promotes startups in the cultural and creative industries sector. She is also the winner of the 2023 edition of POESAM, which rewards innovative projects in education and social action in Africa.
Melchior Koba
In Kenya, Fablab Winam promotes manufacturing, research, and education. It offers designers, artists, scientists, engineers, and students an open-access laboratory to stimulate their creativity.
Fablab Winam is a material innovation and digital fabrication makerspace created in Kenya to enable people with creative ideas to come together to share solutions and tools for prototyping and startup incubation.
The lab was founded in 2018 by Martin Oloo, a former Fab Academy graduate. The founder is also the lab's managing director, overseeing its operations and partnerships. His vision is to create a culture of manufacturing, collaboration, and creativity, among other things, in the country.
Fablab Winam offers a range of services, including training in 2D and 3D printing, laser cutting, vinyl cutting, circuit production, fabrication, prototyping, mentoring, and consulting. It also organizes various programs to educate and inspire different groups of people.
The first is the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) Fab Kids program designed for children and early high school students. It offers virtual courses in Scratch programming, Arduino circuits and programming, web development (WordPress), and 2D and 3D modeling.
The next is the Fab Design Academy, which aims to improve the design skills of local manufacturers and producers to produce competitive items for the market. There's also the Jua Kali Plus project, which supports Jua Kali artisans (workers in the informal sector) to improve the quality of their products and produce spare parts locally.
Fablab Winam also organizes Fab Internships, a program that builds students' practical skills before sending them on internships with local companies. It is also the first Kenyan fablab outside Nairobi to host the Fab Academy, an online course on digital fabrication.
Fablab Winam also hosts monthly events such as International Youth Day, which teaches topics such as energy efficiency, sustainable agriculture, the circular economy, green building and design, water management, and much more.
In 2022, the fablab helped over 300 people and completed more than 100 projects. The lab has also received recognition and support from various organizations, such as AfriLabs, ICT Authority, Liquid Telecom, Africa Open Science Hardware, and Shuttleworth Foundation, among others.
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Experienced in the banking and financial services sectors, he developed a passion for the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. This led to the creation of Wakanda 4.0, a digital transformation company, in 2020.
Benito Elisa (photo) is the founder and CEO of Wakanda 4.0, a digital transformation company offering consulting, software development, training, business development, conference organization, graphic design, and video creation. He is also a seasoned professional with extensive experience in the banking and financial sectors.
The Mauritian-born entrepreneur holds a Bachelor's degree in Banking Law and International Finance, obtained in 2010 from the Mauritius University of Technology. He is also a graduate of the University of Mauritius, where he obtained a master's degree in marketing operations for personal and financial business services in 2013.
In 2020, when he launched Wakanda 4.0 Ltd, his vision was to become the most trusted digital partner to the Web 3.0 industry in the African and Middle Eastern regions. He also wanted to promote innovation and education on the African continent, where he believes there is enormous potential for growth and development.
Vice-Chairman of the Africa Emerging Tech Hub, Benito Elisa is also the founder and CEO of Fluffy Goodies, an e-commerce platform for personalized treats. He is also the official representative of Gulf Xellence, an event management and professional training company, in Mauritius.
A lecturer on fintech innovations at the Mauritius University of Technology, he is also an advisor to Nurika, a Nigerian AI-powered platform dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyles as well as encouraging the adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
Between 2010 and 2015, he worked as Bramer Bank's private banking relationship manager, and in the following two years, he was the financial services advisor to the Mauritian Ministry of Financial Services and Good Governance.
An alumnus of the La Plage Factory incubator, Benito Elisa is a winner of the 2022 edition of Africa's Most Respected CEO Awards for digital solutions in the blockchain and virtual assets industry.
Melchior Koba
The e-commerce industry is experiencing remarkable growth in Africa. In Ghana, Felix Manford allows aspiring entrepreneurs to join this sector without the need for any initial capital investment.
Felix Manford (photo) is a Ghanaian entrepreneur and business leader with an impressive academic and professional background. He is the co-founder and CEO of Tendo, a startup that connects suppliers with Ghanaian drop shippers.
He graduated from the University of Ghana in 2018 with a Bachelor of Business Administration. In 2020, he founded Tendo to enable Africans to enter the e-commerce sector even without startup capital.
Tendo connects local wholesalers with independent retailers who can then select products they want to sell online, add their mark-up margins, advertise the products on social media, and earn money every time a purchase is made.
Before Tendo, “people who want to sell online [had] to save money, visit hundreds of suppliers to find a trusted one, and risk losing their capital by stocking up inventory. [They also had] to incur costs for logistics and warehousing. We eliminate all that,” said Felix Manford in 2022.
The startup, which is currently operational in Nigeria and Ghana, underwent the acceleration program of MEST Africa, in 2020. In 2021, it participated in Google's Black Founders Fund program. The following year, it also took part in Y Combinator’s winter program before being named (in 2023), by Make Money Media, as one of the 10 most successful African startups.
During his studies, Felix Manford worked in 2016 at UK Trade & Investment as a sales assistant in Ghana. In 2017, he was hired as a marketing and research officer at Global Trade Consult.
After graduating in 2018, he completed a one-month internship in global investment research at Goldman Sachs before being hired by the company in its Global Investment Research department.
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Africa is a continent with immense potential for innovation and entrepreneurship, but it also faces many challenges. DFC Technology Hub is doing its part to address some of those challenges and foster a dynamic technology ecosystem.
DFC Technology Hub (DTH) was founded in 2021 by Felix Achibiri. It is a technology accelerator, startup incubator, and venture capital firm with a strategic initiative to accelerate the pace of technological development in Africa.
DTH works closely with founders and innovators to create technology solutions that will shape Africa's future, particularly in the fields of fintech, logistics, e-learning, and e-government. The platform it offers Africans is a valuable means of accessing a comprehensive range of resources essential to the growth of their technology businesses. These resources include financing, mentoring, training, technical support, a solid business network, and the opportunity to access global markets.
The accelerator also offers various programs tailored to different phases of the innovation process, from initial conception to product scale-up. For instance, its African Founders Accelerator program targets startups that have already validated their product on the market and are ready to expand their activities in Africa and beyond. It offers beneficiary startups financial support, mentoring, and privileged access to DTH's network of partners and investors.
For engineers and researchers working on cutting-edge technologies that can solve Africa's challenges, DTH offers the Makers & Builders Program. This program provides technical support, prototyping facilities, and access to the DTH research laboratory.
Finally, the Thinkers and Innovators Programme is aimed at entrepreneurs with disruptive ideas likely to shape Africa's future. It supports them in validating their concepts, developing prototypes, and launching minimum viable products.
To date, DTH has incubated 11 start-ups, contributing to the creation of over 751 direct jobs across Africa. Its ambitious goal is to support more than 250 startups in Africa over the next decade.
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With his fintech startup Kaoun, the entrepreneur facilitates and secures access to financial services for all Tunisians. His company's flagship product, Flouci, has won him several international awards and distinctions.
Nebras Jemel (photo) is a young Tunisian entrepreneur. In 2017, together with Anis Kallel and Rostom Bouazizi, he founded Kaoun, a fintech company that aims to improve financial inclusion.
To reform the financial system, Kaoun helps companies understand and monetize their data for better service and increased profitability. It assists governments in the development of comprehensive financial programs and supports the digitization of public administration.
In line with its mission, the company has developed a remote identification (E-KYC) solution to enable strong remote authentication of individuals during bank account opening or before making online payments. It has also developed electronic signature products to enable individuals and companies to sign documents remotely. These products are also used to securely store signed documents and share information quickly and efficiently.
The company's first product was Flouci, a financial app that offers fully digital access to free bank accounts, wallets for payments and transfers, and other financial services for the unbanked and underserved. In the 48 hours following the launch of Flouci, the app was downloaded 9,000 times and received 700 account opening requests.
Flouci aims "to become the standard app for financial inclusion in Tunisia. The Chinese model speaks for itself. The Alipay and WeChat Pay platforms are widely used, despite the widespread use of bank cards,” explained Nebras Jemel in 2020. In 2014, the latter was a summer researcher at the Fondazione Bruno Kessler, a European research institute focused on artificial intelligence. From 2015 to 2016, he worked as a research assistant at Harvard University's Center for Middle East Studies. Between June and July 2016, he worked for Legalist Inc., an institutional alternative asset management company, as a software engineer, participating in the development of a legal data platform for the company.
Nebras Jemel and his company have won several awards. In 2020, Kaoun became the first Tunisian startup to graduate from the Google for Startups Accelerator program. It also won the AfricaTech Awards in the fintech category at the VivaTech 2023 conference in Paris.
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By providing valuable resources and fostering a supportive community, StartGate is helping to propel African startups onto the world stage.
StartGate is an innovation campus founded in 2020. Affiliated with the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, it offers world-class infrastructure and resources to support entrepreneurs as they launch and develop their startups.
Its services include mentoring, business development support, and access to finance. It provides entrepreneurs with technological equipment and modern, open workspaces to stimulate their creativity.
The campus is home to several partner programs designed to help entrepreneurs at various stages of their journey. It includes Explorer, an innovation program offering entrepreneurial training, mentoring, and potential funding opportunities. Another program it offers is Entrepreneur Academy, which targets university and high school students, researchers, employees, and all types of aspiring African entrepreneurs, providing them with an introduction to and training in entrepreneurship.
There is also U-Founders, which deploys incubation, pre-incubation, and entrepreneurship awareness programs for students, researchers, and entrepreneurs belonging to the university's ecosystem.
Other notable programs include the African Youth Climate Hub, which provides resources and tools for young African climate entrepreneurs, and the Moroccan Retail Tech Builder, the first Venture Builder in Morocco –and Africa as a whole– dedicated to the digitization of the retail sector.
With Sarrah Chérif d'Ouezzan at the helm, StartGate has, since its creation, supported more than 624 entrepreneurs and start-ups from over 15 African countries. It has organized over 100 workshops and training sessions in 20 business sectors.
The campus hosts more than 10 support programs for the launch and development of startups. It has a network of 200 Moroccan and international mentors and experts and over 30 investors.
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With its unique entrepreneurial setting and dedication to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, La Plage Factory is positioned as the ideal guide for Mauritian tech companies targeting African and European markets.
Located in the heart of Port-Louis, Mauritius, La Plage Factory is a remarkable startup incubator and accelerator on the African tech scene. Founded by Michel Cordani, a self-taught entrepreneur with over 25 years of international business experience, it is dedicated to propelling impactful African tech startups.
It offers a full range of services designed to support startups at every stage of their development. These services include mentoring, business model development, and dedicated support. Each startup is assigned an experienced mentor who acts as a committed partner, providing weekly coaching. The business model development program is based on a proven method of aligning products and markets, preparing startups to attract investors.
The incubator offers a combination of seminars, training, group sessions, and specific reviews to suit the needs of each startup. To further enrich the startup journey, La Plage Factory provides coworking space, administrative services, access to funding, and networking opportunities.
The incubator draws on its network to identify strategic partners, potential customers, and sources of financing. In addition, it offers entrepreneurs access to an ever-expanding network of professionals, as well as a platform for administrative services and skills enhancement.
Accredited by the Mauritius Research & Innovation Council (MRIC) in 2018, the incubator-accelerator led the Mauritian delegation at Viva Technology 2022. Also in 2022, it received the African Start-up Ecosystem of the Year award and the Incubator and Coworking of the Year award.
A member of the AfriLabs network, it is supported by Fuzé Digital Africa, Catalytic Africa, and French Tech Mauritius, among other partners.
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