TECH STARS (1007)
AfriLabs is an organization that promotes collaboration, knowledge sharing, and partnerships in the African tech ecosystem. It has one of the largest networks of innovation centers on the continent.
Networking organization AfriLabs was founded in 2011 to support African tech hubs by providing funding, mentorship, networking opportunities, and capacity-building resources for high-potential entrepreneurs. Led by ecosystem builder Anna Ekeledo, it has a network of 419 innovation centers in 52 African countries.
It offers capacity-building services for entrepreneurs, supports research, and organizes events and programs, among other things. It also provides coworking spaces and office space for entrepreneurs. Some of the programs it organizes include Catalytic Africa, an initiative launched in collaboration with the African Business Angels Network (ABAN) to build the skills of entrepreneurs, start-ups, hubs, and angel investors.
AfriLabs also supports initiatives like the Global EdTech Hub, a program funded by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the World Bank, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to improve education technologies in developing countries.
Each year, AfriLabs organizes the AfriLabs Annual Gathering, which brings together leaders of innovation centers and ecosystem builders on the continent. The annual convention enables all players to learn more about the prospects in the business sectors covered. This year's gathering will take place in Kigali from October 11 to 13.
For its activities, AfriLabs has a wealth of partners including Facebook, Mozilla, GIZ, the French Development Agency, IBM, AfriHive, the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation, TechCabal, Google, the Ford Foundation, InfoDev, and Intel.
Melchior Koba
He has over 12 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. As the co-founder and CEO of healthtech Pharmacy Marts, he transforms and modernizes the Egyptian health sector.
Ahmed Kadous (photo) is an Egyptian pharmacist who graduated from Cairo University in 2009 with a Bachelor's in Pharmaceutical Sciences. He also holds a master's in marketing from the Arab Academy of Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, which he obtained in 2011, and is the CEO of healthtech startup Pharmacy Marts.
He co-founded Pharmacy Marts, in 2021, with Haitham El-Ghotni, a senior business development and sales professional. His healthtech startup provides a digital marketplace connecting pharmacies and medical suppliers, facilitating the acquisition of medicines, medical supplies, and cosmetics.
Pharmacy Marts enables medical suppliers to list their products and offers online, allowing pharmacists to check them out, compare their prices, and source for the best deals. The startup also works with financial institutions to enable pharmacists to increase their income through BNPL (buy now, pay later) financing. Recently, it was nominated at the pre-selection event for the third edition of Egypt's Entrepreneur Awards. Ranked in the "Digital Solutions and Customer Experience Awards" category, Pharmacy Marts has been recognized as one of the country's top start-ups that transform and modernize the pharmaceutical industry.
Ahmed Kadous, one of the men who made it possible, debuted his professional career in 2009, as a Pfizer medical representative. In 2012, he joined Novartis as Executive Medical Representative. In his 9 years with the company, he successively held the positions of Marketing Manager, Market Access Manager, and Pricing Manager.
In 2021, he was appointed Patient Value Access Therapeutic Area Manager for Takeda, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company. He was also responsible for the company's market access.
Thanks to Pharmacy Marts, in 2022, Ahmed Kadous was awarded the prize for the best start-up in North Africa issued by Africa Arena. In 2023, his company was named one of the 15 most promising healthtech start-ups in Africa at the AfricaTech Awards. He also received the Outstanding Leadership Award at the Health 2.0 conference, and Pharmacy Marts received the Best Series A Start-up Award from Africa Arena.
Melchior Koba
More than an academy or an incubator, MEST Africa is a large community catalyzing tech entrepreneurship in Africa. It is committed to innovation to build a promising tech ecosystem on the continent.
In the rapidly growing African tech landscape, MEST Africa is undoubtedly one of the notable incubators and communities advancing things. Founded in 2008 by Jorn Lyseggen, founder of the Meltwater Foundation, it trains and supports the most promising technology entrepreneurs, opening up new avenues for innovation and economic growth.
It is based in Accra, with centers in Lagos, Cape Town, and Nairobi. It is all by itself an Africa-wide technology entrepreneur training program, an in-house seed fund, and a network of incubation centers for African tech startups. It provides African technology entrepreneurs with technology training, financing, and support in software development and business and communications.
MEST Africa's year-long training program is designed to create an immersive, hands-on learning experience. Students are exposed to a balanced combination of theoretical courses, practical projects, and company internships. Its members have access to a global network of experts knowledgeable in subjects like sales, engineering, marketing, and more.
As an incubator, it supports graduates who have successfully convinced its Board of Directors of the prospects of their startups. These graduates receive seed funding and are allowed to access a collaborative workspace and experienced mentors to guide them through their entrepreneurial journey.
The tech entrepreneurship support agency also regularly organizes, in collaboration with its partners (GIZ, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Samsung, Mastercard, and Impact Lab, among others), events, conferences, and workshops to foster collaboration, knowledge sharing, and networking opportunities between entrepreneurs, investors, and industry professionals. One of its initiatives is Edtech Monday, a weekly show broadcasted live on Facebook and on CITI FM (Ghana) every Monday.
MEST Africa's impact has an undeniable impact on the African tech ecosystem. Since its creation, it has trained over 1,000 tech entrepreneurs and financed more than 80 companies, helping create over 750 jobs on the continent. It boasts support to startups in sectors like e-commerce, agritech, fintech, healthcare technology, edtech, AI, and more.
The next cohort of its training program, consisting of 60 students as usual, will start in August 2023.
Melchior Koba
As the CEO of a company specializing in application development, artificial intelligence, and connected devices, he creates practical technological solutions for people. His latest innovation is a tracking bracelet that enables Muslim pilgrims to always find their way around Mecca.
On May 25, 2023, Guinean tech company Continental SOFT unveiled a new GPS tracking bracelet specifically designed for Muslim pilgrims. The product, called Smart Hajj 2.0, uses cutting-edge technologies such as GPS, QR codes, mobile connectivity, and advanced tracking algorithms to prevent users from getting lost while performing the annual Islamic pilgrimage (Hajj). It is made from nylon and plastic, making it resistant to bad weather.
"Each pilgrim is equipped with a discreet, lightweight, and easy-to-wear tracking device, which continuously transmits his or her geographical position. A mobile application also tracks the pilgrim’s moves. If lost, the latter can simply flash the QR code to instantly check the guide” and get the route to take, explained Mohamed Souaré, the brain behind the innovative product and founder/CEO of Continental SOFT.
Apart from Smart Hajj 2.0, the Guinean innovator has developed several tech products. They include Smart désinfectant - Covid-19, a disinfection tunnel designed to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. He is also behind Calculatrice N'ko, a calculator using the N’Ko alphabetic script, and Smart School, an intelligent machine capable of detecting students’ location and informing parents in real-time. In 2020, thanks to Continental SOFT, he was awarded the Katala Award issued by Covid Hero.
Melchior Koba
The incubator encourages and supports businesses that solve socioeconomic problems in their communities. It particularly focuses on women-led or owned businesses.
Wennovation Hub is a start-up incubator and accelerator working to create high-impact businesses. It was established in 2010, in Nigeria, and officially opened in 2011 to help achieve sustainable development in Africa by encouraging youth innovation.
Born of a partnership between venture capital firm LoftInc Capital Management and the non-profit organization Africa Leadership Forum, its role is to train innovators through tailor-made programs that turn ideas into successful businesses. It focuses on high-impact sectors such as education, agriculture, healthcare, clean energy, and infrastructure, among others, and emphasizes job creation in its programs.
It also offers modern coworking spaces at its three Nigerian campuses based in Ibadan, Lagos, and Abuja. The spaces are equipped with the essential technical tools that bright minds need to come up with business ideas. It also offers office space to entrepreneurs and founders, small and medium-sized enterprises, middle managers, freelancers, and creative artists.
In November 2022, the incubator announced its expansion outside Africa, starting with Barbados. In partnership with youth empowerment organization The Next Economy, it recently launched an incubation program targetting early-stage companies founded or co-founded by women.
To date, Wennovation Hub has supported over 450 start-up teams and more than 150 women-led businesses, creating more than 12,500 jobs in the process. They include Asusu, which promotes the digitization and financial inclusion of cooperatives, and Afrimash, which is an online destination for farmers looking for poultry, fish, and livestock.
Its partners include AfriLabs, LoftInc Group, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Lagos Angel Network, Emory University, Total Energy, and the University of Ibadan.
Melchior Koba
Aware of the challenges faced by small-scale farmers, he co-founded Pula to provide insurance products to people who need them but have never bought any.
Thomas Njeru (photo) is a Kenyan entrepreneur and co-founder of insuretech Pula. He graduated from the University of Nairobi, in 2009, with a bachelor's of Actuarial science. In 2015, he got a chartered financial analyst degree from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University. In 2018, he graduated from Strathmore Business School with a Master of Commerce.
His insuretech, Pula, operates in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It handles insurance product design, risk placement, farmer and herder training, and claims assessment. It offers three main products, namely Yield Index Insurance (YII), Hybrid Index Insurance, and Indexed Livestock Insurance (IBLI).
Its yield index insurance covers all yield-related risks. Among other things, it insures the value of purchased inputs in the event of low yield. Its hybrid index insurance is a combination of weather index insurance (WII) and yield index insurance (YII), offering farmers comprehensive coverage by maximizing the benefits of both insurance products.
The third product, indexed livestock insurance, is an asset insurance program that covers farmers when pasture is inadequate, often due to drought or delayed rainfall. Since 2015, Pula's products have impacted more than 6.7 million smallholder farmers. Thomas Njeru, the man who made that possible, entered the insurance world, in 2009, as an actuary at UAP-Old Mutual Insurance Group. In 2011, he joined Aon Hewitt as a consulting actuary. Then, in 2012, Deloitte South Africa hired him for the same position. About two years later, he was promoted to the position of director of actuary and coinsurance advisory. In 2019, the New York Times named him one of the global agriculture visionaries.
Melchior Koba
The Innovation Village aims to create a new generation of entrepreneurs who solve industry and community challenges. In addition to the collaborative framework it provides for its members, it organizes events and programs to facilitate their development.
The Innovation Village is a springboard for entrepreneurs and innovators that strive to solve Africa’s most processing problems. Founded by C.K. Japheth, in 2015, it is a coworking space that offers business incubation and acceleration services to start-ups.
It aims to foster the emergence of a wave of businesses that not only have a measurable impact on the world but also significantly improve the lives of everyone on the planet. The incubator targets startups in the agritech, insurtech, energy, edtech, fintech, tourism, healthcare, supply chain, manufacturing, and media segments.
It implements several programs and initiatives, including the Uganda Innovation Week 2022, which brought together 1,000 participants, over 80 speakers, and more than 50 exhibitors. It also organizes the DataHack4Fi, an annual innovation competition that promotes evidence-based decision-making to improve the delivery of financial services to low-income people.
The incubator also organizes events to enable successful entrepreneurs to share their experiences. One such event is VILLAGE SOIREE, set to take place today, May 26.
To date, it has supported 2,000 entrepreneurs, including 40% women, in six segments. It also boasts a community of 140 start-ups, over $3 million raised, and 100 events hosted.
The startups it supported include Safepay, a digital payment solution for public transport users, UGIT Engineering and Consulting, a company offering consulting, engineering, and design services, and Infinity IcT Solutions, which aims to become a data center by providing quality information technology services.
Its partners for various activities include The Mastercard Foundation, Liquid Telecom, MTN, and UNCDF.
Melchior Koba
He is an expert in digitization, business strategy and development, and digital banking. With AgroSfer, he digitizes agriculture, providing appropriate solutions to the needs of cooperatives, agribusinesses, and governments.
Francis Dossou Sognon (photo) is a Beninese entrepreneur set on revolutionizing agriculture across Africa. In 2019, the industrial and systems engineering graduate founded AgroSfer for that purpose.
Through the agritech company, he designs and implements data-driven strategies to improve the agricultural value chain on the continent. He supports agricultural cooperatives, collects data in the field, and provides tailor-made support to small-scale farmers to help build sustainable supply chains for food industry players.
Currently, AgroSfer operates in Benin, France and Côte d’Ivoire. To help at least three million farmers easily sell their products to manufacturers by 2025, it developed a digital marketplace to connect farmers with international buyers. For the time being, it has reached some 20,000 farmers.
Francis Dossou Sognon is also one of the co-founders of Acumen Network, an African digitization company that aims to help businesses, governments, and non-governmental organizations effectively address the challenges they face in transforming their activities.
His professional career began in 2006 at Valeo, an automotive supplier, where he was a lean engineer. He worked at Mastercard Advisors in the information services sales office in 2015 and as business development support between 2016 and 2017. In 2017, he joined Illicado, a forerunner in the French voucher market in France, as a digital program manager.
Melchior Koba
Concree offers virtual and in-person incubation programs to foster entrepreneurship in Africa.
Concree is a Senegal-based incubator, which designs and manages solutions and programs to help early-stage startups grow from ideation to scalable business models. It was founded, in 2014, by Babacar Birane, a project manager by training, and Abdoul Sy, its chief technology officer.
The incubator focuses on developing the creative potentials of its coachees, supporting determined entrepreneurs in their efforts to create innovative, sustainable, and impactful businesses. It is always in support of selected entrepreneurs from the ideation stage to the first sale.
It has developed several coaching solutions, including LezGo, LezGo Light, and Wekomkom. The latter is an open incubation platform designed to help startups transform their ideas into products ready to be taken to markets. It connects entrepreneurs to upskilling, financing, and business development opportunities.
LezGo allows entrepreneurship support institutions to attract entrepreneurs and work in perfect collaboration with their incubation team and entrepreneurs and also review and improve their coaching activity.
LezGo Light, on the other hand, fosters collaboration and empowers users with dynamic tools. It also allows users to measure the impact of their coaching with monitoring and evaluation tools.
Apart from its tech solutions, Concree also collaborates with partners on entrepreneurship support projects. One of those projects is the Falling Walls Lab (June 8, 2023), an event during which participants present their innovative ideas. In its eight years of existence, Concree has supported 250 entrepreneurs through its programs, 3,000 entrepreneurs through its digital solutions, and worked with 20 institutional clients. Among the start-ups supported by the company are Aywajieune, an online platform that facilitates the purchase of fish and seafood, and Tolbi, a Senegalese agricultural technology company.
Melchior Koba
The incubator and accelerator supports tech startups, providing resources and coaching to help startups grow.
Zixtech Hub is a business incubator and accelerator based in Cameroon. Officially established in 2017 by Paul Mbua, it aims to become a hub where people turn ideas into businesses. As such, it provides young people with the skills, information, training, network, and tools to create sustainable businesses.
It supports companies that develop greentech, cleantech, agritech, healthtech, logitech, fintech and edtech solutions. Its incubation program, called ZixtechCubation, focuses on “ideation and growth” and includes three months of “guided both self-paced and Expert-led sessions.”
Zixtech Hub has initiated several acceleration programs, including Agritech Accelerator and Greentech Accelerator. The former connects agritech startups with mentors and experts while the latter focuses on greentech startups.
In addition to these programs, the support agency has developed an innovative, hands-on entrepreneurship academy called Startup Academy to foster innovation and creativity. It also offers mentoring sessions -Mentorship Hour- with startups and entrepreneurs facing various challenges in the ecosystem.
In addition, Zixtech Hub offers consulting services to governments, non-governmental organizations, business support organizations, and companies with experienced professionals in their field. The incubator also offers web development services, ICT solutions, digital marketing, and artificial intelligence solutions.
For its activities, Zixtech partners with international and national agencies like the European Union, AfriLabs, International Trade Centre, Enrich in Africa, Digital Africa, and GIZ. It covers more than 17 countries. It also collaborated with some 60 clients on 45 projects, claiming a 100% success rate.
Melchior Koba
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With its coworking spaces, incubation and mentoring programs, as well as training and consulting services, DoniLab supports tech innovation and entrepreneurship in Mali.
DoniLab is a Mali-based business incubator founded in 2015. It is led by Tidiane Ball, a medical professional and entrepreneur. The incubator helps startups turn their ideas into minimum-viable products. It focuses on business sectors with high innovation potential such as information and communication technologies, health, and social innovation.
Through its coworking space equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, DoniLab offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to work in a comfortable space while benefiting from a range of services and high-speed Internet access. It also offers a digital fabrication lab -which serves as a learning space- and helps entrepreneurs, professionals, and established or yet-to-be-established companies get reliable information on their markets.
The incubator has initiated several programs, including Doni Green, an online climate change course for entrepreneurs, students, and professionals. The program aims to promote the development of the green economy through youth entrepreneurship in Mali.
DoniLab has supported other programs such as the Anwkathon Green Economy, a hackathon that aims to promote sustainable development by encouraging the youth to adopt green solutions. The incubator also supports Youth Connekt Mali, a program that aims to encourage youth entrepreneurship and involvement in development actions.
To reach entrepreneurs in rural areas, the incubator has created three additional hubs apart from its Bamako headquarter. On Saturday, May 20, at its Sikasso hub, it organized a training session on the production of hydroponic green fodder for entrepreneurs in the agriculture and livestock sector.
To date, DoniLab has incubated and accelerated 298 companies. It has also helped create 292 jobs -thanks to supported companies- and organized 35 events. The companies incubated by DoniLab have raised more than CFAF830 million ($1.3 million).
It is supported by several partners, including AfriLabs, the U.S. embassy in Mali, Afric'Innov, the World Bank, the International Organization of la Francophonie, and the French Development Agency (AFD).
Melchior Koba
He has managed businesses in over 25 countries. With over 20 years of experience in retail financing, he develops solutions to facilitate access to credit for SMBs and underserved individuals.
In the recently booming fintech ecosystem in Africa, Chidi Okpala (photo) is undoubtedly one of the entrepreneurs marking the ecosystem. He is the founder and CEO of Asante Financial Services Group, a Kenya-based fintech startup founded in 2018.
His startup offers credit solutions with a focus on advancing the independence and financial well-being of underserved SMBs and individuals in Africa. The neo-bank provides funds to small businesses to help them manage their daily operations. It offers financing to licensed mobile money agents and provides loans to finance its customers' insurance premiums, ensuring maximum convenience and protection. To date, it has operations in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Rwanda and plans to expand to seven more countries by 2025.
Its founder, Chidi Okpala, studied finance at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology where he graduated with a B.sc. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Nigeria (UNN Nsuka) and a Sloan Master of Science in Management from the London Business School.
Since June 2022, he is a member of the international board of directors of Medair, an organization that helps vulnerable people in isolated and devastated communities survive crises and recover with dignity.
Before founding his company, the entrepreneur worked for major financial institutions. Among others, he was the managing director in charge of retail banking in 19 markets in Africa for the UBA Group between 2010 and 2012. Over the three following years, he was the president and CEO of Airtel Money, where he grew the mobile money business into one of the continent's largest retail financial service providers. From 2016 to 2018, he also worked for Atlas Mara Ltd as managing director of the fintech and digital segments.
In 2022, Asante Financial Services Group was awarded the Neobank Rising Star Award for East Africa at the 8th Africa Bank 4.0 Awards ceremony.
Melchior Koba
He is shaping the global energy landscape by investing in sustainable solutions and creating strategic partnerships. His company actively promotes green energy in Africa.
Samuel Alemayehu (photo), an Ethiopian entrepreneur and investor, is at the forefront of the combat against climate change and the promotion of sustainable development in Africa. He leads a dedicated team that invests in innovative projects focused on renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Born in Ethiopia, he attended Stanford University where he earned a bachelor's in management science and engineering. In 2008, he co-founded and led -till 2013- 4Afri Technologies, a mobile service provider deployed in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zambia, Cameroon, DR Congo, Gabon, Senegal, Ghana, and Liberia. In 2005, he co-founded Corner Media Global LLC, a distributed social network focused on expatriate communities.
He is also the co-founder and chairman of Cambridge Industries, an engineering, design, procurement, and construction company focused on renewable energy projects throughout Africa. As a subsidiary of Cambridge Group of Companies, the company -founded in 2013- manages various renewable energy projects on the continent and has completed projects worth hundreds of millions of euros.
Cambridge Industries was for instance the first company to design, develop and build a large-scale waste-to-energy project in Africa. The project, called Reppie Waste-to-Energy, is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It currently processes more than 1,400 tons of waste daily.
As an investor, Samuel Alemayehu has backed several companies and sits on the board of several of them. These include East Africa Electric, the innovative communication and storytelling platform Pitch and Flow, VC Include, and NextBillion.ai, a company focused on artificial intelligence. His passion and actions have earned him recognition as one of the World Economic Forum's Young Leaders in 2018.
Melchior Koba
The incubator encourages technological entrepreneurship and provides young talents with the resources they need to turn ideas into businesses. Its programs and events position it as a major player in the Mauritanian digital transformation ecosystem.
In Mauritania, Hadina RIMTIC is one of the key players that promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the tech ecosystem. The incubator, based in Nouakchott, was founded, in 2014, by IT engineer Mariem Kane, IT expert and entrepreneur Dahaba Diagana, and senior consultant Zeinebou Abdeldjelil, who is currently its president.
It aims to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, boost digital adoption and improve the contribution of the digital economy to GDP. It also wants to facilitate the digital transformation of growth sectors and strengthen women’s entrepreneurship. It as well aims to contribute to the digitalization of growth sectors and to strengthen the participation of women in entrepreneurship.
To achieve its goals, Hadina RIMTIC offers coworking spaces to allow entrepreneurs to work in an environment that stimulates creativity and collaboration. It also offers mentoring and coaching programs, business development, and financing opportunities.
The incubator also develops innovative solutions for its partners, executes corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs and strategies, and offers smart sourcing services.
It regularly organizes events, workshops, and conferences to trigger interest in IT disciplines, share good practices, and create networking opportunities. In 2014, it launched the MauriAppChallenge, the first app development contest in Mauritania. In 2022, it also launched the Agri-entrepreneurship Program in partnership with the FAO to support businesses and start-ups operating in the agricultural sector.
Hadina RIMTIC also established an agricultural innovation center in Rosso and organized a STEM Summer Camp to train Mauritanians in robotics, electronics, and programming. The best students from this camp will represent Mauritania at the FIRST Global Robotics competition.
To date, it has incubated 5 start-ups, pre-incubated 26 start-ups, supported 40 projects, and organized 4 competitions as well as 35 conferences and training. Among the start-ups supported are DoctoRIM, Neotic, Habidem, and Taci Secure. It is supported by several partners including USAID, the World Bank, the French Embassy in Mauritania, Total Energies, and the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Mauritania, among others.
Melchior Koba