mLab East Africa

Application Deadline: 8th September 2016

PIVOT East is Africa’s biggest startups competition and conference held annually since 2011. The competition comprises of a series of activities that will culminate in the finalists conference which will be held on 15th November 2016. The conference is organized by m:lab East Africa an initiative of the iHub.

PIVOT East aims to catalyse the growth of startups, so as to amplify and consolidate the gains of East Africa’s digital entrepreneurship ecosystem. The key objective for this year’s event is “to facilitate discovery of the next wave of high potential startups in the region”.

The competition has five categories which are; Finance, Enterprise, Entertainment, Utilities and Society and Governance. Each category will feature five finalists who will pitch to an audience of Investors, Development Partners, Government Representatives, Telecom Operators and other key stakeholders from East Africa.

Eligibility Requirements:

Eligibility criteria to participate in PIVOT East 2016:

Participating startups must be domiciled in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, Burundi, Somalia or DR Congo
Entries to the competition will be considered to be startups as per the universal definition of a “startup”* or a startup company (*as done below)
Participating startups must indicate details of at least two members of their team in their application profile
Companies that reached final 25 lists of PIVOT 2011, PIVOT 2012 ,PIVOT 2013, PIVOT 2014, PIVOT 2015 may not compete with products/services previously submitted for the competition, the judging panel will have discretion to disqualify entries in breach of this requirement.
Competitors selected to the final 25 list must have set up a legal entity (business name, limited company etc) for their business by 8th September 2016. 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.

Benefits:

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

TIMELINES

Close call for application : 6th September
Semifinalists Announcement : 26th September
Finalists Announcement: 11th October
Workshops : 18th Oct – 10 Nov
Main Pitching Conference : 15th Nov

Application Procedure:

Applicants are encouraged to start building and curating their startup profiles early as they might need to research or source some of the information required widely.
Applicants are also required to upload a short (max 5 mins) video of the founders expressing the mission and strength of their startups on their VC4Africa profile.

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

Go to VC4Africa platform (vc4a.com) and set up your startup profile
If you already have a startup profile on VC4Africa, go straight to www.pivoteast.com/apply2016
Curate your Startup profile according to given profile headings
Ensure that you upload a short (max 5 mins) video of the founders expressing the mission and strength of their startups on the VC4Africa profile.

Applicants are advised to use all components available under the profiles section to best describe their strengths and potential for growth.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of PIVOT East Africa

infoDev at the World Bank and CRDF Global are announcing VentureOut, a new initiative to propel expansion-ready mobile entrepreneurs into enticing international markets.

Top mobile app entrepreneurs from 31 countries will compete in the VentureOut Challenge to enter the Dragon’s Den in Chisinau, Moldova during an international mobile meeting organized by infoDev of the World Bank.

The goal: Internationalization of their mobile applications — entering new countries, continents or going global with their amazing apps.
Stakes are high: $10,000 seed funding; Mentorship with international and regional mobile experts; Dragon’s Den exposition in Chisinau, Moldova; and TechCrunch Disrupt Europe Scholarship to Berlin.

The VentureOut Challenge will run from August to November 2013 and help hundreds of entrepreneurs through hands-on training, virtual learning opportunities, mentorship, international exposure, and seed funding. Entrepreneurs will come from 31 countries from the entrepreneurial ecosystems developed by six local technology community partners located in six countries: Armenia, Kenya, Macedonia, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa.

This program also identifies advanced entrepreneurs during the VentureOut Challenge mobile app competition – applications accepted between August 9 and September 2, 2013. The top 9 entrepreneurs from the competition will meet in Moldova this October 30-31, 2013 for the Dragon’s Den, a pitching exposition to compete for $10,000 in seed funding. Thanks to a great partnership with TechCrunch, one selected VentureOut entrepreneur will also be attending TechCrunch’s Disrupt Europe event in Berlin this October 26-29, 2013.

Kenya:
mLab East Africa, www.mlab.co.ke
John, [email protected]
Serving: Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Nigeria:
CC Hub Nigeria, www.cchubnigeria.com
Tunji Eleso, [email protected]
Serving: Nigeria

Senegal:
CTIC Dakar, www.cticdakar.com
Yann LeBeux, [email protected]
Serving: Senegal

South Africa:
mLab South Africa,www. mlab.co.za
Derrick Kotze, [email protected]
Serving: South Africa

Scope of VentureOut Mobile App Competition
The Competition is designed to encourage mobile app entrepreneurs to internationalize; i.e. to expand their apps into new geographies through:

Training and mentorship with successful entrepreneurs, angel investors, and venture capitalists
Networking opportunities
Seed funding

The application, consisting of a Mobile App Internationalization Summary. This summary is directed to investors will be reviewed by judges who are experts within the entrepreneurship ecosystem. The judges will select the top 18 semi-finalist entrepreneurs.

All 18 entrepreneurs will then create a PowerPoint presentation (template presentation provided here) which judges will review, allowing them to select the 9 finalists. The top 9 will then receive mentorship throughout October, be invited to the workshop, pitch session, and award ceremony in Chisinau, Moldova on October 30-21, 2013.

The finalists will be judged by experts to determine the winners. One competition winner from each continent will receive a grant of $10,000.

Venture Out Challenge Eligibility Criteria

Competition applicants must meet all of the following criteria to be eligible to participate in the 2013 Competition:

1) Application must be written in English.
2) All members of a team can only enter the competition once with one submission.
3) Each team must select a member who will be the applicant for the team in this competition. This member does not have to occupy a particular position on the team, i.e. CEO. That member is hereafter referred to as the applicant.
4) The applicant must be affiliated with local partner organizations (listed above) and residents or citizens of Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro,Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Rwanda Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine or Uzbekistan.

5) Each mobile app must meet this criteria:

Venture is for-profit and less than three years old from date of launching startup
Entrepreneur is interested in expanding their app into new geographies in the future
Product or service is currently in a user testing stage, pilot stage, or available on the market
Venture is either self-funded or has external financing (either from public or private sources)
Mobile app ventures can be B2C, i.e. targeted towards retail distribution, for use on individual handsets; or B2B, i.e. enterprise solutions powered by or using or enhancing mobile technology.

6) The applicant must be at least 18 years old and able to both read and speak English proficiently.

7) The applicant should be ready and available to present her/his technology idea or startup during trainings and business pitch presentations in Chisinau, Moldova on October 30-31, 2013.

8) The applicant must hold a valid passport and be eligible to travel to Chisinau, Moldova to participate in the workshop and pitch session if selected as a finalist. (Visas will be obtained by finalists).

9) All awards will be granted to the applicant only.

10) Applications that fall under the following categories will not be accepted:

apps with no demonstrable commercial potential
apps based on charity or foundation (not-for-profit) organizations
apps that are not yet functional or existent (apps have to be beyond the idea stage)

Application Instructions

In order to participate in the competition, eligible applicants must submit an application online that consists of a Mobile App Internationalization Summary to
https://www.younoodle.com/podium/er/VentureOut_Challenge_2013/enter

The content of this application should demonstrate viability of the mobile app, market potential, and strategy to raise funding, generate revenue, and enter new geographic markets.

The Mobile App Internationalization Summary will be completed online, not exceed 1,000 words, and must be written in English. It should include the information outlined below. In addition to the 1,000 words, applicants are encouraged to include visuals, such as tables, graphs, and/or photos, to convey additional information or to complement the narrative portion of the Mobile App Internationalization Summary.

For More Information:

Download the VentureOut Challenge Mobile App Competition Application Guideline

PIVOT East Africa Startups Competition 2016 for East African Startups.

VentureOut Challenge mobile app competition .