12 Growth Stage Startups Selected for 2023 VC4A Venture Showcase Africa

 

PRESS RELEASE

12 Growth Stage Startups Selected for 2023 VC4A Venture Showcase Africa

This annual flagship program brings together the best and brightest startups from across the continent, giving them the opportunity to pitch their ideas to investors and industry experts

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AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, August 14, 2023/ -- VC4A (https://www.VC4A.com), the leading startup platform in emerging markets, is proud to announce the 12 African startups that have been selected to participate in the 2023 VC4A Venture Showcase Africa. This annual flagship program brings together the best and brightest startups from across the continent, giving them the opportunity to pitch their ideas to investors and industry experts with the objective of raising their Seed or Series A fuding rounds. The 12 startups selected for the 2023 Venture Showcase Africa are: Three ventures from Egypt, which are Rology (https://apo-opa.info/455sUUU), an AI-assisted tele-radiology platform that helps deliver accurate radiology reports on time; FreshSource (https://apo-opa.info/451X5fw), a B2B agri-supply chain platform that uses data and technology to connect producers to businesses, guarantee fair prices, and minimize food loss; and Pharmacy Marts (https://apo-opa.info/47H09zA), a B2B marketplace for pharmacies that provides a one-stop shop for products, financing, and logistics. Four startups from Nigeria namely; Vendy (https://apo-opa.info/3YvNpaP), which helps businesses accept payments from customers without internet access; Treepz (https://apo-opa.info/3OCiBQS), a car-sharing platform for Africa that aims to reduce CO2 emissions; Winich Farms (https://apo-opa.info/3qCT7ee), an application that connects food producers to informal food processors and retailers in Africa; and OmniRetail (https://apo-opa.info/3OAwu21), a B2B e-commerce platform offering supplier & retail software, to connect the informal retail ecosystem across Africa. Three startups from Kenya; Duhqa (https://apo-opa.info/3OBqdDi), a digital supply chain platform that uses AI and automation to help SMEs and manufacturers grow their businesses; MPost (https://apo-opa.info/3KDJtPu) which is a digital platform that turns mobile phone numbers into formal postal addresses, and SympliFi (https://apo-opa.info/3OTghFF), a blockchain-powered credit-as-a-service platform that provides affordable credit to MSMEs in Africa. To close the top 12 list, one startup each from Uganda and Senegal; Emata (https://apo-opa.info/3OW2PC7) is a digital lending platform on a mission to provide loans to millions of farmers in East Africa and Maad (https://apo-opa.info/3KCIizP), is an e-commerce marketplace connecting manufacturers and retailers in Francophone Africa. These high-growth ventures were chosen from a pool of hundreds of applicants, and represent a diverse range of industries and sectors in the Seed and Series A tracks. Each startup will receive mentorship, technical assistance and will have the opportunity to showcase their companies to an audience of investors and industry leaders in the VC4A Deal Room. "We are thrilled to unveil these exceptional startups for our upcoming VC4A Venture Showcase Africa 2023 program. Each is a beacon of innovation and entrepreneurship. These visionary teams have demonstrated remarkable potential and we eagerly anticipate the transformative journey ahead as we accelerate their growth and shape the future together," said an excited Abu Cassim, Lead of the Acceleration Team at VC4A. We thank our 2023 Africa sponsors, the African European Digital Innovation Bridge Network AEDIB|NET and Work in Progress! Alliance, for their commitment to strengthening Africa's startup ecosystem. Their support was essential to the success of this cohort selection process. For more information about the final cohort of the 2023 VC4A Venture Showcase Africa, please visit VentureShowcase.VC4A.com. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of VC4A.   Media Contact: Boyewa Abiodun-Adepoju boyewa@vc4a.com About VC4A: VC4A is an ecosystem builder that leverages its infrastructure, network, and expertise for the programs that contribute to the startup movement in emerging markets. Since 2008, the organization has designed, structured, and implemented successful entrepreneurship programs on the continent. VC4A runs an online platform featuring the world’s largest database of startups in Africa and Latin America, connecting entrepreneurs to resources, networks, and funding. Visit https://VC4A.com/ for more information. About Work in Progress! Alliance: The Work in Progress! Alliance, funded by the Dutch government, aims to enable young people from diverse backgrounds to generate sustainable living wages and create optimism about their future. As a member of the Alliance, VC4A works with partners on the acceleration of start-ups and the offering of business development services (BDS) to impact-driven small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) so they can employ more young people. About AEDIB|NET: The African European Digital Innovation Bridge (AEDIB|NET) is an EU/Horizon2020 project that aims to strengthen a common African European digital innovation ecosystem by supporting local digital innovation and startup Ecosystems in Africa, thereby facilitating the collaboration between European and African innovation hubs. The project has a specific focus on Climate Smart Agriculture, Smart Cities, Digital Trade and Cleantech. SOURCE VC4A

Experts Help Boost Mobile Banking in Emerging Markets

27 May 2011 17:10 Africa/Lagos


Experts Help Boost Mobile Banking in Emerging Markets

PR Newswire

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., May 27, 2011

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., May 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mobile phone ownership is commonplace all over the world. A ubiquitous symbol of modernity, these communication devices are now a platform for providing financial services to underserved populations.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100916/DC66431LOGO)

Darden School of Business Professor Frank Warnock and Batten Institute Fellow Veronica Cacdac Warnock have joined ShoreBank International (SBI) in their efforts to assist two new mobile banking companies achieve the goal of increased access to financial services for those outside the banking mainstream in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The team, whose participation is funded through SBI's $16.9 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will design a structure for evaluating the businesses and their progress toward the goal of financial inclusion for poor and underserved populations in the two countries.

"Companies operating in the social sector are expected to run their businesses as well as any traditional for-profit company," says Frank Warnock. "We are tasked to provide guidance on putting in place an efficient system to track the processes and enable timely and critical review of the business."

bKash, a new joint venture between BRAC Bank and Money in Motion, will offer an easy, safe and affordable way for Bangladeshis to store, transfer and pay bills via their mobile phones. UBL Omni, also a bank-led branchless banking venture, launched pilot programs beginning in 2009 to provide broad financial services that best address the unique set of needs of Pakistanis with limited use of banking services. In both ventures, the Warnocks' role is to help the companies by providing technical assistance and business expertise along a number of dimensions, including market intelligence and economic impact.

"Mobile banking for the poor has been successfully implemented in a number of countries, including Kenya and South Africa. bKash and UBL Omni aim to go beyond the traditional focus on transactions and transfers by broadening the poor's participation in the financial system as savers and borrowers," Veronica adds. "Over time, we hope to be able to extract lessons and stylized facts that will deepen the understanding of what does and does not work in the social space."

The ultimate goal is two-fold: effective and efficient delivery of bKash and UBL Omni financial services consistent with the needs of the population who have been managing their lives at the periphery of formal financial institutions, and bring them to a position where they can save, borrow and invest in order to better their conditions.

Broadly, microfinance is the provision of small-scale financial services such as loans, savings and insurance to low-income people. Micro-saving has emerged as an integral element of microfinance, which benefits many of the world's poor when their hard-earned money is protected in banks rather than kept hidden in homes and vulnerable to theft. Frank and Veronica care deeply about opportunities in underserved markets, and work to increase awareness of them among emerging entrepreneurs at Darden and U.Va., as well as in the broader business community. Along with Darden Professor Saras Sarasvathy, they also guide their students in developing "Markets in Human Hope," a practicum course for Darden's Second Year students.

This news release was issued on behalf of Newswise(TM). For more information, visit http://www.newswise.com.

SOURCE University of Virginia's Darden School of Business

CONTACT: University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, communication@darden.virginia.edu

Web Site: http://www.darden.virginia.edu

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