Five African startups have received a $5000 funding grant from Southern Africa Innovation Support Programme (SAIS) and Seedstars, a private Swiss-based tech company. The startups have been selected from the 2019/2020 Investment Readiness Programme (IRP), a startup education initiative that helps participants convert their ideas into sustainable tech solutions.
Investment Readiness Programme
Zambian mobile money startup, Mangwee, Tanzanian logistics app SUMET, UBI a smart city communication platform from Mozambique, Luma Law (South Africa), and Astech-Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo) are the five startups chosen from the 15 in the IRP.
The Investor Roadshow was held after the readiness programme, where startups could meet with potential investors interested in their business and the five startups were awarded their respective grants. “I would recommend the IRP because it was really insightful and the one-on-one sessions with a mentor are priceless,” says Alexandre Coelho, CEO of VOID and founder of UBI.
The goals of the programme are to increase funding received by early-stage startups in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to improve the quality of entrepreneurs in the region and save time for investors and founders during the fundraising process. Seedstars has chosen to focus on ten African countries, namely Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Mauritius, and Mozambique.
Participants will take part in networking and ecosystem strengthening activities and educational programmes to bring their ideas to fruition. Inonge Imasiku, Chief Executive Officer of Mangwee says, “This is the best program for startups that are at a growth stage and ready to scale. The whole program was instrumental to our business growth. Once again, we would like to thank Seedstars and SAIS IRP for this grant and for the mentorship and support rendered to our team during the program. It will help us to fine-tune features on our Students Records Management System.”
