We are back with the Big 5! Your Daily supply of the latest happenings in the Tech Scene.
We open today’s Big 5 Daily with news for budding startups.
Yesterday, on the 8th of November, 2018. Johnson & Johnson launched its Champions of Science Africa Innovation Challenge 2.0. An initiative that aims to identify scalable and plausible solutions to six major problems the African Population is facing as regards health and the environment. It aims to address the area of Botanical Solutions, Packaging Innovations, Mental Health, Health Worker Support, Digital health Tools and Essential Surgical care.
The Champions of Science Africa Innovation Challenge urges individuals with scalable and creative ideas to submit with their ideas clearly outlined and also, a one-year projection of their innovation. The winner will receive over $50,000 in funding and mentorship.
Moving on, South Africa Startup Awards (SAS) announced its list of National Winners from the countries in the Southern African Region. The selected winners will now be categorized for the overall SAS awards. Categories include Startup of the Year, Best FoodTech/Agritech Startup, Best Newcomer, Best Fintech Startup, Best Social Impact Startup, Female Role Model of the Year, Best Ecosystem Initiative, Founder of the year. The Regional winners will be decided through public voting and winners will be announced on the 21st and 22nd of November in Wendyhood, Santon.
We have great news from Nigeria as ThriveAgric, a crowdfunding platform which creates the opportunity for farmers to access finances for the purpose of business growth was selected for the 500 Startups Accelerator. This is the 24th edition of the Accelerator program since inception, they will invest US$150,00 into the startup and also offer mentorship and hands-on training for scalability and sustainability. ThriveAgric , which was also earlier chosen for the Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa was the only African startup selected for the 500 startup program.
We also have interesting News from East Africa as iHub, the Kenyan innovation hub partnered with Raise, a local startup to fully digitize its company assets. Raise is a company with a Blockhchain Based Platform that helps manage compliant digital securities in the frontier market. According to its founder, Marvin Coleby, Raise aims to aid easier management and trade of corporate assets through its platform which is full integrated with Blockchain Technology.
“We’re excited to partner with iHub to create their security tokens and look forward to the future of creating more accessible and liquid private markets for investors with the use of blockchain-based digital securities in frontier markets,” Marvin Coleby added.
And finally, Digital Lab Africa (DLA) an incubation platform for digital content creatives throw open its doors to Applicants for its 3rd edition. This call urges people in the digital content creation spectrum, including Startups, SMEs, Collectives, Students and Entrepreneurs. Applicants should be either Sub-Saharan Africa based or should be nationals of the region.
And that is all for the Big 5 Daily, see you next week.