Announced in August as one of the leading regional startup events of the season, the Seedstars Summit Africa will gather the region’s top startups, investors, industry leaders, and innovative partners from over 25 countries, to foster change and sustainable growth in the region.
Seedstars, the leading emerging market startup community and investor, is launching the 5th Seedstars Summit Africa in Johannesburg on December 3rd to 5th. Concluding the 2019 Seedstars World Competition for the African region, the Summit will showcase more than 23 of the most promising startups from Africa who will pitch in front of investors and industry experts. The event is supported by Microsoft, DOEN, The German Cooperation and GIZ, The African Development Bank and the Swiss Embassy amongst others.
The event will take place at The Fox Junction and gather over 300 key stakeholders from over 25 countries in a 3-day journey that will conclude with the main stage conference, where the major technology and innovation trends of the region will be showcased and thoughtfully discussed. This year, a particular spotlight will be put on female entrepreneurship.
Traditionally, the Seedstars Summit is divided into three days. On December 3, at Tshimologong Precinct, previous to the main event, the journey will begin with an intensive private growth bootcamp for more than 46 startups. Together with mentors and experts, the participating teams will learn growth strategies, refine their business model and prepare to the pitching session in front of the investors.
It will be followed by the well known Investor Forum of Seedstars on the second day, aimed at connecting startups with regional mentors and over 60 investors. Over the morning of the 4th, more than 25 high-quality experts and founders will partake in themes sessions with panels, including Marcello Schermer (Head of Expansion at Yoco), Clyde Vacher, (founder of Interaction), Ngasuma Kanyeka, (Deputy Chief of Party, Feed the Future Tanzania Advancing Youth) and many more.
In the afternoon, influential Investors as Greentec Capital, the African Business Angel Network or Newton Partners, among others, will meet the founders in 1:1 meetings to potentially invest in the most promising ideas.
To conclude it all, the third and main day (December 5) will welcome all the participants willing to learn the latest tech trends, network and meet inspiring founders and entrepreneurs. Inspiring speakers and expert founders and CEOs of well-known African and international companies will gather, such as Jason Eisen, founder and CEO at Utu, and many more.
In the afternoon, multiple prizes and programs will be highlighted by prestigious partners of the Seedstars World Tour Africa:
• DOEN Land Restoration Prize, rewarding the best tech(-enabled) solutions in the land restoration and land degradation space and enabled by the DOEN Foundation (Stichting DOEN)
• The Gender Equality Entrepreneurship Track, focusing on achieving gender balance, enabled by GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit)
• The “AFDB JOB CREATION TRACK”, aiming to find startups “the potential for job creation”, enabled by the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab (IEL), created by the African Development Bank under the Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department (AHHD).
The ten most promising ventures will then be selected to participate in the Seedstars Summit 2020 in Lausanne, Switzerland and compete for the title of the Seedstars Global Winner. The participating teams will get a chance to pitch their idea on the main stage along with 60+ startups from all over the world and win up to USD 500 000 in equity investments.
To get updates on more event speakers and agenda, please subscribe to the event monthly digest (choose Africa a region of your interest).
According to Anne-Alice Fievet, Seedstars Summit Africa Manager, “The Seedstars Summit Africa is not just an event. It’s the completion of six months of intense work and travel in more than 25+ countries of the continent, to meet the people who are building the future of Africa today. So almost every person you’ll meet at the event was personally invited to the Summit by one of our team members on the ground, because she or he is making a difference in her/his community, either as an entrepreneur or a strong believer and supporter of the local ecosystem.”
