Grace Ashiru
MEST Africa announced a shortlist of 36 qualified technology start-ups from five African countries to compete in a continent-wide challenge’s regional pitch competition stage.
During the regional competition stage, the finalist start-ups will be put into four main pitching groups that will compete this week in virtual competitions. A group of experts from all over the continent will judge each event.
From the regional pitches, ten finalists will move on to the next round: individual interviews with the company founders. After this round, five start-ups, one from each market, will be chosen to go to Ghana for the final round.
According to Melissah Nsaih,” director of the portfolio for MEST Africa has been an incredible delight, and we aren’t even at the finals yet. Selecting our top 36 start-ups to advance to regional finals has been a fantastic learning curve, beginning with the planning stages and continuing through the competition’s real debut and the culling of hundreds of submissions.
As a step up from last year’s entirely virtual competition, I’m impressed by how the planning team came up with the idea to combine virtual and in-person pitching to reach more people and give our partners and contestants the best overall experience.
Here are the benefits of the program:
- The winner will get up to $50,000 in funding for their business.
- Prizes from the strategic partners of MEST.
- International visibility.
- Opportunity to expand your professional ties.
- professional mentoring
- Expert advice and mentoring
- opportunity to become a member of the international MEST Community and get lifetime benefits
Learn more about the selected start-ups and follow their journeys here
MEST is a pan-African software and entrepreneurship training program, seed fund, and incubator that assists in the launch of technology start-ups throughout the continent. It is a 12-month program founded in Ghana in 2008 by serial entrepreneur Jorn Lyseggen that provides critical skills training in software development, business, and communications to Africa’s burgeoning tech talent.
