Kenya’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communications Dr. Bitange Ndemo officially opened DEMO Africa in Kenya’s capital Nairobi yesterday.
Ndemo said the event comes at a time when “Africa is grappling with youth unemployment, lots of mobile and Internet penetration, the key components that will help Africa come up with some of the best innovations in the world.”
He urged governments to move with the pace at which applications are being churned out, and create the demand side for the apps to ensure they succeed in becoming high-value businesses.
Seventeen out of the 40 startups shortlisted made presentations to an audience composed of judges, investors, seed funders, experts and technology enthusiasts.
The presentations were made in three categories – Mobile, Enterprise and Consumer – with each startup given six minutes on the stage to summarise their business to the audience.
Some of the African startups featured yesterday included eLimu, Kuza Mobile, Mkazi, mTracker, ProWork, MyOrder and Piilo.
When asked about what they expect to get from the DEMO Africa event, most startups said they were there to get exposure and funding.
Speaking to HumanIPO, Patrick Maina, CEO of CrowdPesa said: “We would like to get exposure for our business and find the right strategic partners for our early growth. We are also seeking Angelic funding to allow is scale up our product.”
The DEMO Event comes to an end today, when some participants will receive the DEMO LIONS award. Five of the 40 teams present will get a chance to go to Silicon Valley to learn more from the startups featured, and a possibility of funding from the LIONS@FRICA partners.
