By Abdi Ali
Published February 27, 2023
Eleven African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) have been selected to sell their projects to prospective international investors in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The 11 SMMEs were part of 29 businesses across 9 African countries who went through the second MultiChoice Africa Accelerator Programme’s entrepreneurial skills training.
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The MultiChoice Africa Accelerator Programme, the initiative of South Africa-based MultiChoice Group in collaboration with Dubai-based business incubator Companies Creating Change (C3), technical partner EOH, and Galelo Africa has not only been designed as a platform to help grow start-up businesses from across Africa but also targets SSMEs in the technology sectors of health tech, agritech, fintech, edutech, the circular economy, and creative industries.
“There’s no denying the impact African SMMEs have on job creation and economic growth,” says Fhulufhelo Badugela, CEO of MultiChoice Africa. “Through the MultiChoice Africa Accelerator Programme, our vision is to take that impact and multiply it beyond what our start-up founders ever believed possible. I have no doubt these small businesses will be able to take everything they’ve learned so far to unlock transformative business funding.”
The first phase of the programme, Multichoice says, saw public and private-sector partners in eavery country nominating businesses or entrepreneurs for the programme. The nominated start-ups then embarked on an intensive virtual training course in December 2022.
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The 11 African start-ups who attended a dedicated boot camp in Lusaka, Zambia to learn more about how to shape their story for international investors, and to get ‘pitch ready’ before their big presentations are:
1. Tupuca from Angola
Tupuca is an on-demand quick-commerce platform and logistical aggregator of uber-like drivers that allows users to order from multiple vendors and service providers ranging from restaurants, grocery stores, small retailers and courier services.
2. Taskmoby from Ethiopia
Taskmoby is the first digital marketplace in Ethiopia that connects customers with qualified home services providers (e.g. plumbers, cleaners, electricians), leveraging a mobile application, SMS/USSD solutions and a dedicated call center.
3. StarNews Mobile from Ivory Coast
StarNews Mobile is a pan-African media-tech company whose mission is to give financial freedom to African creators from the distribution and monetization of their digital content globally.
4. Tendo from Ghana
Tendo is a social commerce platform that enables anyone to sell online with zero capital.
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5. Zuri Health from Kenya
Zuri Health is a virtual hospital (Super Health App) providing affordable and accessible healthcare services to patients across Sub-Saharan Africa via mobile app, website, WhatsApp bot and SMS service.
Through the app, patients can chat and consult with doctors, buy medication from pharmacies, book labs and diagnostic tests and even have a doctor visit them at home.
6. Dojah Inc and Crop2Cash from Nigeria
Dojah Inc is an end-to-end Identity verification and compliance framework to strengthen confidence, credibility, and compliance across digital businesses.
At Crop2Cash, we have built a digital financial service that allows smallholder farmers anywhere in Nigeria to open a bank account on their feature phones in under 2 minutes, with no internet required.
8. MaTontine from Senegal
MaTontine is a digital financial services platform.
It digitise traditional, African savings groups to provide access to financial services for financially excluded women in Africa.
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9. Botlhale AI and Gradesmatch South Africa
Botlhale AI builds Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools for African languages. Developers and organisations can integrate any of these tools into their solutions through its APIs.
Gradesmatch helps students (and families) to transition from education to economic opportunity by making the journey as simple as possible.
The company builds the core enabling infrastructure that simplifies the journey from education to economic opportunity.
11. Mighty Finance Solution from Zambia
Mighty Finance Solution provides SMEs in emerging markets with seamless credit and financial solutions using artificial intelligence. The company leverages proprietary credit rating algorithm to pave the way for a unique lending experience and transforming lives through the provision of simple, quick and affordable loans.