Nigeria Hosts, Tops List of Start-Ups for DEMO Africa 2014

DEMO Africa, one of the flagship initiatives of LIONS@frica, has released the names of the 40 start-ups that have qualified to launch their products on the DEMO Africa stage in September 2014.

Interestingly, Nigeria tops the list with a total of 14 start-ups followed by Kenya, Ghana and Egypt.

Rwanda, Tanzania, South Africa and Ethiopia will each have two representatives while Tunisia, Benin, Cameroon, Uganda and Zimbabwe have earned their space at the DEMO Africa platform.

During the DEMO Africa event in Nigeria, the 40 startups will take the centre stage to launch products for addressing sectors namely communication, education, finance and banking, health, media and retail.

The event which is being hosted in Nigeria for the first time since its debut in Kenya two years ago is in recognition of the increasing ICT innovation and entrepreneurship springing up across the country.

The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) has promised that the event will be a major eye opener as Nigeria will prove itself in the comity of IT nations with necessary applications and business models for investors delight.

According to Dr. (Mrs.) Omobola Johnson, minister of Communication Technology who has demonstrated her penchant interest in Nigeria hosting the event, “it is our vision to make Nigeria the ICT Hub for Africa by harnessing and consolidating the growth of the ICT sector, as well as increase the integration of ICTs across all sectors in a manner that supports the diversification of the economy while achieving job and wealth creation”.

For the first time in history, Federal Government has focused attention on how to assist the ICT industry through various initiatives being implemented by the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology. One of such is the ICT innovation project that is to catalyst the innovation ecosystem and create successful ICT entrepreneurs.

Addressing the gathering at the inauguration of the DEMO Africa Local Organising Committee, Johnson mentioned that, “Africa may have missed out on the industrial revolution, but we surely will not in the ICT revolution. Through innovation, we will put Nigeria and Africa in general on the ICT map. Realizing the huge potential of the software industry, we have put in place a set of initiatives that will assist the tech startups to create successful businesses, which will directly create jobs and wealth”.

On behalf of the Committee, Mr. Yele Okeremi, chairman DEMO Africa Local Organising Committee [LOC, Nigeria], expressed confidence that this is a great event that is not only celebrating the amount innovation coming out of Nigeria, referring to 14 Nigerian startups out of 40, but also beaming light on the impact that ICT is beginning to make on the economic development in Nigeria and across Africa as a whole.

Harry Hare, DEMO Africa Executive Producer, acknowledged the efforts by all the participating start-ups and called upon the investors to support the work of these young entrepreneurs.

“We had really amazing entries this year, but unfortunately the DEMO Africa team can only accommodate forty for now. The high number of entries is inspiring. It only shows that entrepreneurs have risen above the fear of venturing into new waters to create new products. This in itself shows that confidence levels in Africa made solutions are steadily rising. I am confident that we will get to levels where we can generate solutions that can be applied globally,” Harry said.

Ben White, VC4Africa Founder, observed that the standard of applications continues to rise each year with Victor Okigbo one of the DEMO Africa’s jurists supporting him by commenting that the judges task to shortlist the final forty was not easy.

The application for this year’s DEMO Africa opened in March 2014 and closed in June and a panel comprising top minds in business and technology leaders from across Africa sifted the applications.

The criterion for adjudication was the ability to link creativity, innovation, effectiveness and scalability.

The selected forty start-ups are currently undergoing coaching and mentorship with global experts and mentors, supported by DEMO Africa and the US State Department.

The DEMO Africa 2014 event is scheduled to take place between 22nd and 26th of September at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria whereby these forty startups will have a chance to launch their products to an ecosystem of Venture Capitalists, investors, technology acquisition specialists, IT buyers and media from across the region and around the globe.

This event hosted by the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology and LIONS@FRICAis being organized in collaboration with the LIONS@FRICA partners (Microsoft, Nokia, US State Department, DEMO, USAID, African Development Bank, VC4Africa among others) and DEMO Africa Local Organising Committee.

It is believed that start-ups springing up from the event will help in addressing issues in Nigeria such as Agriculture, Health, Education, Manufacturing, Retail, Media and Entertainment, Communication and Transport and Logistics.

Others are Energy, Finance and Banking, Water and Sanitation and Waste Management and Recycling.