On Thursday, July 29, 2021, Founder Institute Africa held its maiden Founders Showcase Event.
Founder Institute Africa, a subsidiary of the Founder Institute, launched a Founder Showcase pitch where promising pre-seed startups pitched to an audience of several hundreds of investors, entrepreneurs, and startup ecosystem leaders across the world.
The showcase event kicked off with Lavina Ramkisoon’s address; speaking about perseverance in entrepreneurship, she expounded on how FI has been structured to finetune and build resilience in all the startups passing through its accelerator program.
Next, she ran through the agenda and called on Adeola Kayode who introduced Ryan Micheletti- Founder Institute head of Global Operations.
Ryan gave credits to all FI local leaders in Africa for the great works they are doing on the continent and he affirmed that Africa is at the frontline of global entrepreneurship.
The event’s keynote speaker was Rebecca Enonchong, founder of Apps Tech. As an enterprise software professional with over 22 years of experience, she spoke intensively on how hard it is to start a company as an African in an ecosystem that is highly dominated by males and Caucasians.
She explained that not many people understand what it means to be an entrepreneur or the psychology of being one.
She suggested peer-to-peer mentoring (founder to founder) which will help them bond and share ideas on how to scale through this difficult journey referring to it as a “bumpy road” that requires perseverance and personal drive.
The event moved to the pitch sessions where all the 12 entrepreneurs across Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana were showcased.
Starting with Ghana, Carly Edwards, founder of Ground Up Ghana; Osagie Omokhomion, founder of iCare Innovations; and Samuel Opoku, founder of Kutana pitched their solutions, followed by mentors review and Q/A.
From Nairobi, other founders are Ben Lusigi Kilima founder of DevsRecruit; Fatuma Dabassa founder of Urembo hub; and Lusigi Ndambuki founder of Sweet Deals.
The Nigerian representatives were Ayodeji Agboola, founder of Akowe App; Bukola Asehinde founder of Bellafricana; and Yusuf Shittu, founder of Jojolo.
The pitch ended with startups from South Africa like Herald Smit, founder of Airwaiver; Jacobus Erasmus, founder of CiTiFi; and Yusuf Henriques, founder of IndyGeneUs.
The founders pitched their solutions to various problems across the verticals they belong to: edtech, agritech, SaaS, lifestyle and beauty, fintech, healthtech, among others.
The event was attended by Directors, Mentors, Local leaders, and over 230 other attendees across all spheres.
The Regional Director for Africa, Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr. “CFA” gave the closing remarks by urging the founders that pitched to make absolute use of the FI platform because it is full of massive opportunities for business and personal growth.
He submitted that the founders should get into funding lab programs designed for those who need funding.
About Founder Institute
The Founder Institute is the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator. Since 2009, FI has helped over 5,000 entrepreneurs get the focus and support needed to build a business that matters.
Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 90 countries, the Founder Institute’s mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide.
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