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(R) Chinwe Okoli (Special Adviser to the Anambra State Governor on Innovation and Business Incubation) 📸Solution Innovation District All over the globe, Techstars Startup Weekend plays out as an exciting and immersive foray into the world of startups. Over an action-packed three days, Founders across various sectors meet the very best mentors, investors, co-founders and sponsors who show the business owners (current and potential) how start that business or get an existing one grow faster, organically. Over the weekend, an iteration of Techstars Startup Weekend took place in Onitsha, Anambra State, with the startup team from ‘Electrify’ securing the top prize…

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Kelechi Nwaozozu (2nd L) – General Manager, Café One by Sterling Bank On May 24, 2024, combined co-working space and coffee shop, Café One, announced the opening of a new service point in Ikeja (Lagos State), bringing its service locations to a total of seven across Nigeria. Housed within the premises of Sterling Bank, Café One also plays host to Sterling Bank’s digital products, offering premium banking services and one of the best coffees in Lagos while at it. 📸Café One The Ikeja centre, similar to all other Café One locations, is pleasantly ambient, offering a variety of working options…

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📸 Affiong Williams Affiong Williams (Founder & CEO of technology food startup, ReelFruit Nigeria) is attending her first major expo in the United States, and says it’s been a huge eye-opener for her. According to Williams: I marveled at the scale of trade in the U.S, the innovation in snack products and the opportunity that lay ahead for ReelFruit in the U.S. I returned energized to continue in my mission to take the best of Nigeria to the world. It is more than possible!I was also very fortunate to meet with the co-founder of Martie, Kari Morris. Martie has been…

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Team E-Doc Online (L-R) Babatunde Ogundipe (Co-Founder & CEO): Adam Bisi (Co-Founder) – E-Doc Online is one of 20 startups selected for Visa’s second accelerator program cohort 2024 📸 NumerisMedia/ Anne Agbakoba Visa has announced the startups shortlisted from across Africa to participate in the second cohort of its Africa Fintech Accelerator program. The Sub-Saharan African startups shortlisted for the second cohort of the Visa Fintech Accelerator program for Africa are: Chapa (Ethiopia) CheckUps Medical Hub (Kenya) AzamPay (Tanzania) Beem (Tanzania) Bizao | Payment hub in Africa (Ivory Coast) HUB2 (Ivory Coast) IWOMI TECHNOLOGIES LTD (Cameroun) PROBOUTIK (Cameroun) VaultPay (Democratic…

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One of 10 entrepreneurs: Nora Majero’s Drop Access (Kenya) manufactures and supplies solar-powered cold chain solutions to rural communities Meet the 10 local leaders who make up the 2024 Acumen Energy for Livelihoods Accelerator. They are consistently unbundling barriers to clean and affordable energy for all: Amein Eskinder (Fiberkiosk, Ethiopia) Fiberkiosk (Ethiopia) tackles the pressing issues of energy access and economic disparity in underserved Ethiopian communities. Through a network of micro-entrepreneurs running solar kiosks, they provide access to charging and refrigeration to communities, and income for the operators. Celeste Tchetgen Vogel (eWAKA Mobility, Kenya) eWAKA Mobility (Kenya) provides eco-friendly, electric…

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Yesterday, we presented MaaD, (read here), one of the mission-driven founders backed by the Ventures Platform Fund. And there’s more. Here’s a recap of some of of the Fund’s recent investments in companies building the future of Africa, through innovative market-creating solutions: 🇪🇬 Karcel (formerly known as Voom)Founders: Abobakr Elmashtoly, Mohammed KamelOn a mission to digitize used car transactions in Egypt, Karcel offers a secure platform for seamless transactions, advanced technical inspection procedures, a transparent online pricing system and financing options for both users and merchants. The company aims to be the go-to digital automotive platform, empowering individuals and businesses at any phase of their…

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The Ventures Platform fund is thrilled to announce its lead in the $3.2 million seed round investment in Maad, a tech and logistics platform transforming the retail landscape in Francophone Africa.Launched in 2021, the platform reduces the barriers to access and cost of delivering goods, aligning perfectly with the Fund’s thesis of backing market-creating innovations that solve for non-consumption. Kola AIna (Founding Partner, Ventures Platform Fund) Unsurprisingly, Maad has quickly become a key solution for informal retailers in Senegal, providing a one-stop shop for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). Says the Ventures Platform Fund: Their innovative approach connects small retailers directly…

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Clinching the top spot: Deepankar Rustagi (Founder & CEO, OmniRetail) Recognised for its authority, integrity and accuracy, leading business and financial title, the Financial Times (FT) has released its 2024 ranking of 125 of Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies. Source: FinancialTimes In this third iteration of its now expanded, Nigeria, one of the continent’s three biggest economies, holds three of the top 10 spots, with OmniRetail (eCommerce), Moniepoint (Fintech, Financial Services & Insurance), and Afex Commodities Exchange (Nigeria’s first licensed private commodities exchange) in the first, fourth and fifth positions, respectively. Tosin Eniolorunda (Founder, Moniepoint): Moniepoint Inc. is ranked 4th place…

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21-year-old software engineer, Nathan Naachuku (Co-Founder, Terrahaptix) Nathan Nwachuku is a 21-year-old software engineer who dropped out of university at 18 to solve critical problems. Today, along with 23 year-old Co-Founder Maxwell Maduka, Nwachuku is the Chairman of TerraHaptix, a Nigerian robotics startup that develops low-cost, autonomous drones that serve critical sectors such as Agriculture, Energy, Mining, Construction, and Telecoms. Says Nwachuku: Since we began operations 4 months ago, we have recorded almost $1M in revenue and $15M in LOIs from customers across Energy, Mining, Agriculture.TerraHaptix is solving a critical problem: the $250B automation crisis for core industries in emerging…

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Team Chowdeck (L-R): Olumide Ojo (Co-Founder & CTO); Lanre Yusuf (Co-Founder & COO); Femi Aluko (Co-Founder & CEO) Following Nigeria’s 2024 policy removing subsidies on petroleum products, the pump price of petrol naturally skyrocketed, leaving food delivery logistics companies – which rely on petrol-powered motorbikes – struggling to survive the sudden astronomical cost of doing business. Many have floundered and shut down, including popular brands such as JumiaFood, Gokada, Glovo, and Bolt Food. Yet, Chowdeck thrives, with its success ascribed to aggressive expansion across disparate locations in Nigeria – Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Asaba, Benin City, Abeokuta, Ilorin and Port Harcourt…

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