Application Deadline: October 31st, 2021
The President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, announced the African App Launchpad initiative within the closing ceremony of the World Youth Forum (WYF) 2018 on Nov 6, 2018 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
The African App Launchpad (AAL) initiative is an Africa-wide platform aiming to build capacity of Youth from Egypt and other African States and foster establishment of sustainable startups in the area of the advanced ever-changing app and game technologies.
AAL targets to build capacity of 10,000 young calibers and support the establishment of 100 startups in gaming and app development across all Africa. AAL works by availing a high-quality, technology-learning online platform through crowd-sourcing top online content developed by prestigious universities and leading companies, and delivered through three leading MOOCs; Coursera, edX, and Udacity.
Objectives
- Building capacity and certifying young African calibers on the recent advances in app and game technologies.
- Supporting creation of job and business opportunities for the African youth through wage employment, freelancing, and startup establishment.
- Increasing the competitiveness of African ICT companies by availing an abundant talent pool.
- Forming Africa-wide learning networks in leading technologies to act as platform for fostering technology innovation and entrepreneurship.
Eligibility
- Citizens of each officially participating African state can apply through the initiative website.
- Applicants are accepted as learners subject to fulfilling the following criteria:
- A higher-education college graduate of year 2006 at most or will graduate within 2 years (by 2021). Can access all tracks.
- Non-ICT applicants and junior university students are eligible for some introductory tracks. If non-ICT applicants are interested in other ICT tracks, a good knowledge of essential ICT technologies is recommended through the following:
- Min. 2-years work track in ICT.
- Min. 6-month international training record in software technologies.
- Eligible Africa Countries: Egypt, Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, The Gambia, Nigeria, Togo and Uganda.
- Apply as Teams or Startups up to 2 Years Old
- Team Size not Less than 2 Members
- A Working Prototype at least is a Must
Competition Tracks
Game Development
Join this track if your startup team is working on game development, VR, or AR applications.
App. Development
Join this track if your startup team is working on specific App development using any technology. (Mobile, Cloud, Web, IOT, AI, .. etc)
Prizes and Perks
- $USD 72 K Total Cash Prizes for Winners
- Business Planning and Tech Training by IBM
- Mentorship by IBM Experts
- Cloud credits from Startup with IBM prorgam
Benefits
- Free top-quality learning track in one of the advanced app and game technologies.
- Prestigious international certificate after successfully completing the learning track.
- Potential chance to attend a local learning group to experience cross learning and discuss business impact of the underlying technologies.
- Opportunity to join startup competitions where each winning startup is awarded USD 2K in additional to possible seed fund or incubation service.
- Being informed of Africa-wide employment opportunities.
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the African App Launchpad (AAL) Competition 2021