The trio of Nigeria’s PharmaServ, Parkwell and Jand2Gidi have been selected as part of eleven disruptive startups for the Cohort 3 of the Africa Startup Initiative Program (ASIP) Accelerator Program powered by Startupbootcamp Africa.
Other startups selected for the program are Sodishop from mali, BD Waste from Ghana, Limawa from Senegal, Moja Ride from Côte, SafeTrack from Morocco, Chestify AI Labsfrom Ghana and Yoonema from Senegal.
The Africa Startup Initiative Program will take place in Dakar, Senegal and startups will be hosted at the D-hub, – a space commissioned by DER/FJ and will be powered by Africa’s leading tech Accelerator, Startupbootcamp AfriTech, together with founding partner, Telecel Group.
Participants will receive an intensive three-month coaching and support program to accelerate their growth and benefits worth $750,000 USD. Startups will also have access to the global Accelerator Squared platform which has a complete library of content, group workshops, 1:1 mentoring, collaborative sessions with Entrepreneurs in Residence, and invite-only discussion forums with founders from around the globe.
Commenting on the program, Eleanor Azar, Executive Deputy of the Group and ASIP Director said:” we are very proud of the great effort that was put into this cohort 3 of the ASIP Accelerator Program powered by SBC AfriTech – we have exceptional startups with innovative and positively disruptive ways of treating the African challenges that they have set out to solve and build their Startups around. We are also exceptionally proud that the number of female founders has increased. And to those who did not make it into the top 10, we wish you all the luck, you should be very proud that you have come out on top of more than 2,000 applications received into the program in cohort 3.”
“We’re excited by the quality of startups in this cohort,” commented Program Director Henry Ojour. ”About 30% of them have applied before, 60% applied on the recommendations of an alumni founder and 50% of them have monthly revenues above $50,000.00. Cohort 3 companies are building in over 12 verticals we have a 30% female-founder ratio. It’s going to be 13 weeks of far-reaching progress & impact,” he added.
The intrinsic value of startups in Africa lies in their ability to build fast and effective solutions to pressing challenges. Over the years another key aspect has come to the fray; scaling across borders. The ASIP Accelerator has managed to help founders fine-tune their business models while also facilitating entry into new markets such as Senegal.
This has been possible through a historic partnership with DER/FJ (https://DER.sn), which was established to advance Entrepreneurship for Women and Youth in Senegal by the President of the Republic, His Excellency Macky Sall. Giving a keynote at the event, Senior Innovation Lead Adrien Schwarz said.
The ASIP Accelerator powered by SBC AfriTech will culminate in a Demo Day on 25 May 2023 where startup founders will pitch their disruptive solutions to a broad audience of media, investors, corporate partners, and industry stakeholders.