With the objective of increasing funding received by early-stage startups in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, SAIS and Seedstars hold the Investment Readiness Program aimed to improve the quality of entrepreneurs, and save both founders and investors’ time in the fundraising process. This is done through educational programs, ecosystem strengthening and networking activities, with a focus on the following 10 countries: Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Mauritius, and Mozambique.

After receiving 300+ applications from those 10 countries, a total number of 158 startups and their founders were invited to take part in the Online Seedstars Academy, a tailored-made resource library with personalized training materials put together for the startups by the Seedstars Investment Team and network of mentors.

The 158 startups were also able to attend live training on the Art of Communications as well as 22 tips to Investment Readiness, in their own language (English, French or Portuguese), in order to maximize the understanding and interactivity of the training sessions for the startups.

Based on their application, attendance, and thanks to a thorough interview process by the Seedstars Investment team, 15 startups that were selected to take part in the Investment Readiness Program (IRP), which consisted of a month-long module focused on Key Business Metrics aimed at increasing the robustness of the startups and preparing them for fundraising, are set to move on to 4 more training modules, 1on1 mentorship and peer-to-peer networking.

Starting at the beginning of February 2021, the training is followed by 2 months of 1:1 mentorship to ensure the startups receive support that is tailored to the specificities of each startup. Participating mentors are Eric Osei, Christos Kritikos, Kabeer Chawla, Nuno Veloso, Nicolas Bry, Jovin Hurry, Jini Sebakunzi, Andrew Herweg, Sameer Jooma, Sean Clancy, Jesus Kiteque, and Ali Mohdi.

“Thank you very much for this webinar. We are learning wonderful things and I am very happy,” says Billy Kabongo of Genietech Group (beautyApp) as a testimonial to the program.

The second batch of startups that is continuing in the second phase of the the SAIS IRP program with 1on1 mentorship are the following:

• We Deliva SA. - Deliva is a Food Ordering and Delivery Platform that provides Customers, Drivers , Restaurants and Wholesalers tools to expand and scale.
• Sparco Inc. - We have built tools to allow businesses to collect money from their customers anywhere and also have access to a pool of delivery companies.
• Mangwee - Mangwee is a Zambian based mobile money transfer and remittance platform that enables learning institutions to process payments.
• Adongo Blockchain Ltd - Decentralized online ad exchange platform that makes digital advertising fast, easy, affordable and data driven.
• Flamingoo Foods Company Ltd - Using cutting-edge climate tech, we forecast food deficit and surplus areas before they are known and proactively react to food insecurity.
• NOBLE AGRITCH - We design & develop low cost & tailor made farming technologies using locally available resources for increased productivity
• Genietech Group ( beautyApp) - Beauty product and service choice orientation platform connecting seekers of beauty and well-being services or products with their suppliers
• BrillantTS Africa [C32-PEX] - C32 - The next generation alternate digital payment and open banking platform and mobile app for the next billion underbanked and unbanked.
• ACE Smart Technologies Ltd - We are a robust EdTech in Zambia who successfully launched an eLearning portal in partnership with Zamtel and ECZ with 25,000+ pupils
• Astech-Congo - Umoja Funding - Stay connected to your school or university, wherever you are and in real time from your smartphone thanks to Shule online.
• Masenze Strategic Advisors - Affordable and accessible access to practical, relevant and user friendly legal information via chat platforms such as facebook messenger.
• SUMET - Digitalize FMCG distribution by connecting suppliers and the informal retailers saving their money, effort, and time through data-driven AI
• VOID - Tecnologia e Comunicação - UBI is a platform that connects people to their city. Anytime anywhere, through solutions that make the everyday simple and straightforward
• BANKADA - Home delivery and taxi passengers requests are solved in one digital system. Same taxi that carry passengers also delivers goods of 2 Kgs above
• GWork - We make remote teams in SMBs smarter by ensuring that they are continuously learning from their behaviour and improving their performance.

At the end of March, the 15 startups will participate in an Investor Roadshow where they will have the opportunity to present their companies and meet with investors that are interested in learning more about their solution. In the end, select startups will receive a grant sponsored by SAIS.

To find out which startups will win a grant, sign up to the upcoming Investor Roadshow here.

ABOUT SEEDSTARS

Seedstars is a Swiss-based private company with a mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship. The groups’ activities cover over 90 emerging ecosystems through a variety of initiatives such as the Online Seedstars World Competition, acceleration programs, physical hubs called Seedspace, venture capital investments and company building activities. Seedstars The Documentary is a feature film featuring the company’s vision to give a voice to the game changers of the developing world.

"They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds." - Mexican proverb

ABOUT SOUTHERN AFRICA INNOVATION SUPPORT PROGRAMME

SAIS is a regional initiative that supports the growth of new businesses through strengthening innovation ecosystems and promotion of cross-border collaboration between innovation role-players in Southern Africa.

CONTACT

If you would like more information, please contact:
Michaela Villaroman at [email protected].