The African Drone Forum (ADF) has announced the launch of the first African Drone Business Challenge, with a cash prize of £40 000 for the winner of the best drone application.
Participants selected will be able to exhibit and pitch their business plans during the African Drone Forum Symposium & Expo, which will take place at the Kigali Convention Centre from 5 to 7 February 2020 and run concurrently with the Africa Tech Summit at the same venue.
The ADF comprises a symposium, expo and the Lake Kivu Flying Competition.
The ADF said the business challenge aims to encourage African entrepreneurs to envision new opportunities that may emerge as a result of both the increasing rural connectivity in Africa and new systems of delivery, digital fabrication and artificial intelligence (AI) for navigation and image analysis.
“Tech is there, but use cases beyond medical product delivery are the missing piece,” said Jean-Christophe Zufferey, co-founder of senseFly. “We should spend more time analysing existing supply chains to see where and how drones make sense.”
Ten finalists will be invited to attend ADF and will receive pitch training, exhibition space, mentoring, and the opportunity to pitch their business ideas live to a crowd of industry leaders, investors and government officials.
Finalists will receive notification in early January 2020 if they are selected to participate in the final pitch event at the ADF.
Requirements
To submit a business plan, you must be a citizen of an African country or an African in the diaspora. Business concepts would need to be implementable in Africa.
Those eligible to apply include everyone from individual entrepreneurs or an early-stage startup to an innovation team within a small business, corporation, or government office that focuses on integrating new drone services or applications into their business models.
Entrants do not need to be drone companies but should focus on concepts and customers for new business opportunities enabled by drone technologies.
Significant consideration will be given to proposals that demonstrate both economic and social value to their communities.
The deadline to apply is Monday, 9 December.
