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Maiden launch heralds ground-breaking programme providing essential support to growing African tech start-ups London, 16 December, 2019 - Afritech XYZ, a virtual accelerator programme by UK social enterprise, Do it Now Now, today announced the selected startups set to take part in a programme that will see them benefit from training in go-to-market strategies, networking and mentoring. Hundreds of applications were whittled down to the final 19 start-ups that will now be connected to key expert know-how, tools, investors and legal support as they navigate the next stages of their company’s development. Commenting on the launch of the programme, Bayo Adelaja, Chief Do-er, Do it Now Now, said: “It is really exciting to introduce the UK investment community to this group of African founders. Each company presents a truly innovative solution to some of the pressing problems faced by users on the African continent, and in some cases, across the world.”  FINALISTS
KENYA - Growd Global - They are revolutionizing the education of children from birth to 14 years by enabling children to design their own learning experiences or classrooms. NIGERIA - Pay Hippo - They provide loans to small businesses in 24 hours. Their mission is to close the credit gap in developing economies by financing businesses and supporting their growth. UGANDA - Ecoplastile - They aim to address the challenges of post consumer waste pollution, waste management, deforestation and climate change by recycling and transforming waste plastics using a chemical free plastic extrusion technology. NIGERIA - Salubata - They are expert shoe makers solving a deeply felt problem in the global shoe industry; returns on orders due to inaccurate sizing. They have developed a mobile application that solves their own problem and that of millions of others that loose over 57 billion dollars annually due to this issue. NIGERIA - Qataloog - They automate Higher education learning content distribution across Universities and Colleges in 54 Countries in Africa to enable catalogues discovery, sharing, strategic acquisition and management of learning content collections for Academic, Government, Corporate, Schools and public Libraries in Africa. NIGERIA - Every Farmer - They are building a unified cloud and mobile platform that simplifies complex farming processes and a cluster based smart-drip irrigation system to aid all-year round farming. UGANDA - IRRISOL - they transform people's lives through the provision of quality and affordable agricultural, water and irrigation solutions. We offer world class irrigation products and services, solar products, climate smart agriculture, water treatment and supply. GHANA - Trusteefarm - they use inspiration from blockchain for its web-based platform to track food safety and allow food growers, processors and consumers to inter-trade seamlessly. They provide consumers and agribusinesses with mobile apps to track and monitor the source, quality and safety of their food using ussd and QR code scanners. NIGERIA - Novel - they are building a cloud-based accounting software that effectively takes care of all the end-to-end accounting needs of MSMEs across all industries, especially manufacturing. It is specifically suited to the needs of entrepreneurs as it works offline, has a robust tax management module, and has a voice entry and reporting feature. GHANA - Xpendly - They provide mobile and USSD platforms for young millennials across Africa to manage their finances. Millennials automatically monitor their spend across their multiple accounts, get financial education and also have access to information about their creditworthiness with tailored advice to help them make better spending and investment decisions. SOUTH AFRICA - Just Float - They are building a fully digital marketplace that conveniently facilitates peer-to-peer rentals of specialised items. On the one side it enables vendors to make additional income by listing their items securely while leveraging short term insurance. On the other side it provides borrowers ease of access to on-demand items at an affordable rate. KENYA - Andele - They seek to step into the gap between when you’ve worked and your actual payday, allowing customers to borrow up to Ksh 50,000 monthly from their pending paycheck based on how often they work and how much they earn without having to wait for their paycheck. They’ve built an algorithm that scores users’s daily financial data and provide them access to capital within 30 seconds of downloading the app. GHANA - Borla Daakye - They’re building an app to solve the issues associated with collecting, separating and recycling of waste from homes, schools and offices into useful materials. NIGERIA - Peersview - They are building a social network for students; a combination of LinkedIn and Quora for the next generation of African leaders. NIGERIA - MaiFARMLAND - They are creating financial stability for local smallholder farmers by aggregating demand, supply and distribution of their locally grown crops within Nigeria to other African countries and International markets through wholesale ecommerce. ZAMBIA - Insure Pay - They are providing financial inclusion through SME loans. Through their products they work with traditionally unsupported SME's to provide inclusive credit facilities for their revenue related activities. KENYA - Hud Hud - They are offering mass ride-sharing for students, ride-sharing to work, mass-commuting for events and it is also a platform for van and bus hire. GHANA - Swiftly - They are leveraging technology and data to optimize freight forwarding for our clients, with special leverage for Africa trade lanes. NIGERIA - Esusu - They are solving the problems of traditional and manual savings schemes across the African continent through a digital platform designed to digitize thrift savings, collections and microcredit towards enhancing delivery of digital financial services to the last mile. NOTES: About AfriTech XYZ AfriTech XYZ is a free to join, equity-free program for pre-seed (bootstrapping) and seed stage (up to £20k) tech start-ups based in Africa. The programme is in partnership with Google, F6S, Lagos Innovates, BongoHive, iSpace Foundation, PYPR, Strand Sahara and Academy London. Programme Selection criteria: Companies must be
About Program Manager Bayo Adelaja has been awarded by Durham, Harvard and Oxford University's Business Schools for her work to create and foster opportunities for under-served communities through technology. 3 communities/initiatives she designed to support under-served communities in tech, were named "Top in Europe" by FT backed digital news platform, Sifted. In 2018, Bayo was named one of the most influential women in social entrepreneurship in the UK, by Natwest bank. She has been the subject of a TEDx talk, has two postgraduate degrees, and was twice quoted by David Cameron while he was the UK’s Prime Minister. Bayo was once the youngest person working in a professional capacity at the House of Commons and has enjoyed a 10 year entrepreneurship journey during which she has helped over 2000 individual founders build better businesses. Bayo was recently been invited by Bill and Melinda Gates to join Goalkeepers 2019 after excelling at work funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Bayo is an international speaker, having spoken on stages across 3 continents. She recently gave the keynote address to Europe's first ever graduating class of Philosophy, Politics and Economics, in Amsterdam. Bayo currently works with high-profile organisations to create movements that spark a massive shift in the discussion around African tech ecosystem and the UK’s underrepresented population (people of colour and low socioeconomic background). She is Chief Do-er at Do it Now Now where she works tirelessly government departments, charities and corporations to create campaigns and programs that edify and equip communities of colour. About Selection Panel: Aaron Fu Aaron has 10+ years of global experience building, scaling and investing in technology products in corporate and startup environments. He has co-founded both B2B & B2C businesses, in Africa - he has led seed stage equity investments in 20 startups (totaling $2m+), he also sits on the board of of 10 startups ranging from AgriTech to Transport and has worked with 100s through partners like Visa, MTN, Airbus & Société Générale. Recently, he was the Managing Director of MEST, Africa’s Largest Pre-Seed Incubator, and Managing Partner for Africa at Nest.vc, a Hong Kong based fund, which he joined after a career in banking. Akinyi Ochieng Akinyi Ochieng manages engagement and marketing strategy at Nova Credit, the world’s first cross-border consumer credit bureau. She previously managed communications at WorldRemit, a leading digital remittance company with a significant footprint across 40 African countries. While a Director at the Africa Expert Network, she curated the first-ever Africa House at SXSW, gathering leading African start-ups and investors. Ms. Ochieng is the Esther Ocloo Fellow at Botho Emerging Markets Group as well as an advisor to TheBoardroom Africa, a CDC-backed initiative that aims to double representation of women in Africa boardrooms. She writes about business, culture, and politics in emerging markets for a diverse set of publications including the World Economic Forum Agenda, Quartz, Slate, and Forbes. In 2019, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential People of African Descent under 40 in the field of media and culture as part of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent. Ms. Ochieng holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and a BA from Yale University. Andrew Sekandi Andrew draws on +10 years’ experience in law and consulting to help entrepreneurs, tech companies and investors succeed in African markets. For investors, he provides deal origination and due diligence support, helping to identify and introduce high quality African companies to VCs and private equity firms. On the corporate side, he provides venture building, market expansion and business development services for both startups and large tech companies. Alongside his consulting and advisory roles, Andrew is a minor shareholder in an Africa-focused tech accelerator and an investment holdings firm raising its first pan-African VC fund. Andy Ayim Andy Ayim is a product leader and business builder. He is currently the Managing Director of Backstage London, which invests $100K and supports women, people of colour and/or LGBT founders. Prior to Backstage, Andy has worked in a range of product roles in companies such as WorldFirst, acquired by Ant Financial for $700m. He is passionate about creating pathways into tech and upskilling people from low income backgrounds. He serves on the Boards of YSYS, Flipside and Mixtape Madness, a startup he cofounded with his brothers and friends. In 2018, Andy was named in the FT as one of the top 10 most influential BAME tech leaders in the UK. Bryan Mezue Bryan Mezue is the co-founder and CEO of Lifestores Healthcare, a Lagos-based startup building the “pharmacy of the future”. Bryan is an alumni fellow of the Harvard Forum for Growth and Innovation, where he founded Banyi Ventures, an investment company focused on funding and building market-creating companies. Bryan is also a co-founder and board member of WAVE Academies, an Obama Foundation Africa Leader, and is published on Foreign Affairs and Harvard Business Review. Bryan was previously a Manager at Bain & Company, working in the London and Johannesburg offices, and was a founding member of Bain’s Lagos office. Bryan graduated with a Bachelor of Science (First Class) in Mathematics and Statistics from Warwick University, and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. Fola Olatunji-David Fola has worked in technology based roles, creating channels for tech to interface with businesses in 10+ countries in different sectors including finance, retail and investment banking, education, media, power, agriculture, and he now focuses on building an African ecosystem that supports innovators and entrepreneurs. Prior to Google, he led Ventures Platform’s Accelerator, graduating 2 cohorts and directly investing in 23 startups over a 15 month period. He also worked as Vice President of Business Development at Venture Garden Group where he led the group’s Finatech Division. He has also had prior experience working at CardinalStone Partners (Nigeria), Ninety East Financials (Mauritius), SET IT (Nigeria, UK), Stanbic IBTC Bank (Nigeria), and UCL Advances (UK). Mike Mompi Mike Mompi is CEO of Enza Capital, a private investor in early-stage African technology companies solving big problems. He was previously an Investor at the Global Innovation Fund where he focused on high-impact commercial investments in sub-Saharan Africa, and he was also an Investment Advisor to the SPRING accelerator in East Africa. Prior to that Mike was Director of Impact Investment at ClearlySo, which he helped build into Europe’s leading Impact Investment Bank raising over $250m. Mike worked with management teams, private investors, and institutional investors to structure and secure values-aligned investment for businesses that have a positive impact on society and the environment. Mike is on the Board of the Accra Angels Network and sits on the Investment Committee of the CIVA Impact fund, and he is a Trustee at the Treebeard Trust, a pioneering social investor that supports transformational initiatives creating a fairer society. He holds degrees in Economics and Communications from the University of California, Davis Richard Tandoh Richard Tandoh is Chair of Star 100, a Ghana-focused diaspora network, and an Investment Associate at the Global Innovation Fund, a social-first impact investor. He also co-founded the news source Private Equity Africa. Richard’s background is in business technology and he has advised a number of blue-chip companies including Barclays, Fidelity Investments, BP and Shell on digital transformation initiatives. Richard holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics and Geography from the University of London, a Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge and a Certificate in Education from the University of London. Suki Fuller Suki Fuller, an Analytical Storyteller, is globally recognized by Forbes as a Strategic advisor for her work with startups. She is Founder of Miribure; a Strategic & Competitive Intelligence company focused on the integration of intelligence with lean/agile principles for companies; Co-Founder & CEO of Salaam Ventures. Suki is currently co-leading FiftyFiftyPledge an initiative to increase the number of women in Venture Capital. With seventeen years of diverse experience from chemical engineering to intelligence; Suki keynotes globally on ethics in technology, security, intelligence and entrepreneurship. Suki was recently named one of the Top 100 Most Influential BAME Leaders in UK Tech by FT. Computer Weekly, Most Influential Women in the UK IT: Top 50 in 2019 and Five Rising Stars in 2018 also a 30 Change Makers for London Tech Week 2018. |
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