Airbus and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) have announced the top 10 African tech start-ups chosen in their #Future4Africa Accelerator. The startups that make up the shortlist were chosen based on their aerospace-based solutions which aims to solve important social challenges like transportation, agriculture and healthcare. The competition was tight, as over 316 Startups pitched for the accelerator. After which they were extensively assessed by a panel of experts and Airbus itself.
The programme aims to celebrate and foster entrepreneurship in the continent. The shortlisted startups were selected in a public event in the presence of experts, media and major stakeholders in Nairobi. Kenya made up three startups on the list while South Africa had two. Malawi, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mali and Ivory Coast make up the rest with one each.
There will be an intensive business incubation and acceleration process that will last 6 months and it will cover both technical and commercial mentorship in France, Germany and SouthAfrica. There will be classes with numerous Airbus Experts, GIZ’s Make-IT, MET and Innocircle personnels.
- Astral Aerial (Kenya) – integrates drones for humanitarian cargo transport, surveillance and emergency response.
- Cote d’Ivoire drone (Ivory Coast) – manufactures drone locally for different applications.
- Elemental Numerics (South Africa) – it applies computational fluid dynamics techniques to the design of machines and components, ranging from aircraft to heart valves.
- Lentera Limited (Kenya) – integrates remote sensors to monitor and transmit environmental data to enable efficient and smarter farming.
- Maisha ICT Tech PLC (Ethiopia) – deploys locally built drones for medicines, blood and healthcare items delivery to remote and rural areas.
- MamaBird (Malawi) – provides a platform to help Governments, NGOs and other organisations deliver vital life-saving supplies to remote communities.
- Map Action (Mali) – a solution offering real-time online urban mapping to identify problems affecting water supplies, hygiene and sanitation.
- MobiTech Water Solutions (Kenya) – an online real-time water monitoring solution that allows businesses, homes and water-service providers to manage their available water using an app-based dashboard and instant messaging.
- Track Your Build (Nigeria) – a novel infrastructure management tool for construction and operations.
- WiPo Wireless Power (South Africa) – offers reliable and convenient wireless power chargers for businesses, conference centres, airports, restaurants and other venues for the charging of mobile devices, laptops and drones.
At the end of this process, there will be a Demo Day Event and also, a final event in Germany where the shortlisted startups will launch their products, state their collaboration with Airbus and make known their investment commitments.