Application Deadline: April 30 2015

PIVOT East is organized by m:lab East Africa – a consortium comprising iHub, eMobilis, University of Nairobi and the World Wide Web Foundation. The competition aims to catalyse the growth of mobile startups, so as to amplify and consolidate the gains of East Africa’s Mobile developer and entrepreneurship ecosystem. The key objective for this year’s event is “to facilitate discovery of the next wave of high potential mobile startups in the region”

Applications to compete in 2015 will be entered as detailed startup profiles which describe the customer pain, the startups solution, revenue streams, team composition and commitment, market traction, short-term projections and milestones among other aspects. The overall startup profile will be used by the competition judges who will mostly be investors to score the potential of the startup to become a sustainable high growth enterprise.

Eligibility criteria to participate in PIVOT East 2015:

Participating startups must be domiciled in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia or DR Congo
Participating startups must indicate details of at least two members of their team in their application profile
Competitors selected to the final 25 list must have set up a legal entity (business name, limited company etc) for their business by 30th April 2015. Competitors with legal entities already set up will have an added advantage at all judging stages.
Decisions of the judging committees at all competition stages will be final.

Categories

The competition has five categories which are;

Mobile Finance, Mobile Enterprise, Mobile Entertainment, Mobile Society and Governance and Mobile Utilities.
Each category will feature five finalists who will pitch to an audience of Investors, Development Partners, Government Representatives, Telecom Operators and other key mobile industry players from East Africa.

Benefits

The 25 finalists will receive training and coaching on how to pitch to investors.

Application Process

Applicants are required to upload a short (max 5 mins) video of the founders expressing the mission and strength of their startups.

How to enter the competition

Startups that meet the eligibility criteria may enter their application into the competition through the following steps :-

Go to startups.pivoteast.com
Register
Curate your Startup profile according to given profile headings
Team members to create individual profile pages to complete the startup profile information
Ensure that you publish your Startup profile to the team member only

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of PIVOT East Africa

Application Deadline: 31 January, 2014.

IBM in collaboration with iHub, A24Media and independent photographer Mutua Matheka hereby invites applications for “The World is Our Lab” photo competition.

Aimed at photographers of all abilities, the contest aims to capture Africa through its numerous challenges and opportunities through your lenses. Whether you use a camera phone or professional camera, capture and render original images that best define one or more of the following three categories:

1. African Grand Challenges

What are the grand challenges that need to be addressed for Africa to realize its potential? Is it improved access to food and drinkable water? Health services in places where there are less than one doctor for over 1,000 people? Is it more universal access to electricity in cities which current only reaches 20% of the population? Is it transport in cities where travelling two kilometers can currently take over an hour on the roads? Or is it the ability to hold governments accountable and track their progress?

Share the images that best illustrate your country’s biggest challenges, focus areas and opportunities for transformation.

African City Systems

What systems do African cities depend on? Infrastructure like roads, buildings and bridges? Organizations and systems that manage a city’s transportation, healthcare, security, government, water, energy services? The systems we use to live and communicate – such as telephones, internet and social media? Or is it the places in a city where people and communities come together – such as markets, bus stations, town squares and sports stadiums? What makes a city smart?

Capture images that define how a city lives and breathes.

African Innovation

What are the solutions that people are putting in place across Africa to overcome the challenges of daily life and create new opportunities? New technologies applied to address perennial problems such as solar panels and wind turbines or old technologies given a new lease of life like radio used to deliver education in remote regions? The creative ways individuals or communities live, communicate and trade such as mobile money transfer systems, information systems and applications? Or is it the low-tech but effective homemade devices such as seed planters, paraffin lamps and shoes made from recycled materials? Do the people and solutions of Africa’s new hi-tech sector signify innovation?

Capture images that define Africa’s innovative and creative spirit.

Eligibility

Participants must have the ownership rights to the entries they submit and warrant by submission that they hold these rights.
While the competition is open to IBM employees and contractors, they will not be eligible for prizes.
To be eligible for prizes, participants must reside in Africa, have a valid passport and be available to travel to Nairobi, Kenya for 8 days before February 28^th 2014.

How can you take part?

Participants should capture or render original images that best define one or more of the competition categories.
Participants should upload jpg images (photographs or scans) in at least 330 DPI resolution via the
Upload section
All entries must be received by Friday 31 January, 2014 (no entries accepted after this date).
Entries will be judged by a panel of experts from IBM, A24 Media, iHub and independent photographer Mutua Matheka.
The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Winners will be notified by phone or email.
The three winners will receive a Lenovo T440 laptop with photo editing software and an all-expense-paid trip to Nairobi, Kenya (from any African capital city) where they will visit IBM’s new research lab, receive a personal tour of iHub’s amazing Innovation Hub and benefit from a photography workshop with one of Africa’s most exciting young photographers Mutua Matheka.
In the event that a resident of Kenya is a top entry then they will receive a 3-day trip for two people to the beautifulHemingways Hotel Watamu instead of the trip to Nairobi.
By participating in the competition, participants agree for their entries to be reproduced, displayed and printed by IBM and its partners in ‘The World is Our Lab’ project.
IBM reserves the right to remove any inappropriate or irrelevant photos from the ‘The World is Our Lab’ website.

Winners

The winners of each category will be selected to receive the grand prizes for each category which include:
1 Lenovo T440 laptop with photo-editing software.
A 3 day trip to Nairobi from any African capital city with full-board accommodation at the stunningHemmingways Nairobi. Trip to include economy-class return flight to Nairobi, full-board accommodation for 3 nights and ground transportation in Nairobi.
In the event that a resident of Kenya is a top entry then they will receive a 3-day trip for two people to the beautiful Hemingways Hotel Watamu instead of the trip to Nairobi.
IBM will provide any necessary written invitations for the winners to apply for a visa to enter Kenya.
Winners to make any necessary visa applications in their own time and at their own expense.
No alternative cash prizes are available.
Winners selected to travel to Nairobi will act as IBM photographer for the day should agree to provide IBM, free of any additional charge, a selection of at least 50 images documenting IBM Research – Africa. The photographers agree to pass the ownership rights of these photos to IBM in exchange for the competition prizes.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the World is Our Lab Photo Competition

iHub

2015 Pivot East Competition for East African Entrepreneurs/Startups

2014 IBM “World is Our Lab” photo competition for African Photographers.

Eligibility

How can you take part?

Winners