From Africa to Italy with a dream. Here are the talents of the Startup Africa Roadshow

They come from Africa to Italy with the idea of ​​learning and taking that know-how around the world. They are the 5 teams of Startup Africa Roadshowthe project Of Next Generation Africaarrived in Italy today (8 June) and that they will remain here until June 16th. The initiative, located between Milan And Bologna, will give these realities from East Africa the opportunity to learn about and become protagonists of innovation. The event is organized by BeEntrepreneursan Italian association founded in 2020 which mainly offers acceleration paths forearly stage and entrepreneurs since 2017, with the collaboration ofEmbassy of Italy in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. In 2 weeks, the 5 winning startups of the 2023 edition of “Next Generation Africa”, coming from Uganda And Rwanda I am in Italy to meet brilliant startups, meet investors, companies and non-profit organizations, participate in training meetings and expand my network. In Bologna the teams will also participate in the Festival WMF – We Make Future. We intercepted them to understand exactly what their intentions are and what they expect from our entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Read also: Startup Africa Roadtrip, a week of technology in the heart of Uganda

Who are the 5 winning startups

Selected from over 330 applications, the winning teams of “Next Generation Africa” ​​2023 arriving in Italy range from the world of health to that of education, passing through that of environmental sustainability. They attended a bootcamp in Kigali in August last year, during which they followed training and mentoring sessions with the association’s volunteers and some representatives of the local innovation ecosystem. Among the winners are:

• Ubuntu Education (Rwanda): An edtech startup that focuses on training, professional development and innovation and offers teachers training content and access to growth opportunities by collaborating with local schools and communities. David Marriott is the CEO and founder, Jess King chief operations officer and co-founder. «We give teachers an opportunity for professional development – ​​comments the CEO – From the Roadshow we expect to find partners for our organization and bridge the gap between the African and European education systems by following sustainable goals and quality education that passes through the quality of teachers. The Roadshow is also important for us to create links with other African startups. From this perspective we want to develop more and more skills in Africa and create partnerships with Europe. We recognize the value of collaborating across borders and benefiting from different experiences.”

• SLS Energy (Rwanda) is a startup that gives a second life to used batteries and has developed a system for recovering still functioning cells from end-of-life battery packs. With these it creates backup and energy storage devices for telecommunications towers. The team includes: Léandre Berwa (CEO), Mercy Hirwa (business development manager) and Patrick Ntwari (co-founder and director of hardware engineering). «We are looking for new opportunities and partners from the Italian ecosystem and we want to establish connections that can lead to future collaborations and investment opportunities – comments Mercy Hirwa – The Roadshow is a great opportunity for African startups and we are interested in Italy because the market is easier access. We are also interested in the German and Dutch markets, but first we aim to consolidate ourselves in East Africa.”

• Shambapro (Rwanda) has developed an app to support small farmers through the digitalisation of some administrative processes, the production of data and reports useful for managing their activities. Kelvin Odoobo is the CEO and founder: «We want to be more resilient, even if we are aware of climate change, and reduce the ecological footprint – he says – For this reason we aim to have access to the best markets for small farmers and create an ecosystem made up of small land owners. In this sector, Italy boasts a very rich and developed tradition that spans hundreds of years and we want to learn this know-how to then move onto a more global dimension. In Italy we are looking for different types of partners: from agribusiness to organizations that work in the supply chain and agritech that are specialized in technology and are evolving the small agritech business sector. We also want to stabilize some small businesses in Italy once we have consolidated ourselves in Africa. Initially our reference market will be East and South Africa and then we will aim at Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.”

• Luna (Rwanda) it is a startup that deals with female empowerment and offers a protected space to discuss delicate topics and the possibility of requesting online consultations with doctors, psychologists, etc. The team includes Aline Joyce Berabose (CEO and co-founder) and Chibudu Nyiro (chief operations officer and co-founder). «We want to create an ecosystem with other startups and understand how they work with other stakeholders, above all we want to learn from ecosystems that are larger than ours – comments Aline Joyce Berabose – We think that the Roadshow is an opportunity to learn from other cultures and experiment New experiences”.

• Ecoplastic (Uganda) deals with environmental sustainability and recycling. This startup collects plastic waste, remunerating the local community through an app, and transforms it into ecological, light and high-performance tiles. The idea was born from a personal experience of the CEO and founder Franc Kamugyisha who works in the team with Peron Nateisa, impact & communications lead.

«Here in Africa entrepreneurship is often driven by necessity – says Franc – Now our mission is to introduce two new hardware products: the waterproof membrane made entirely from 100% recycled plastic, which will contribute to 15% of our operations by 2030, and post-consumer recycled plastic, in high demand from plastic packaging brands such as Unilever, which will represent 25% of our operations by 2030.”