SEEDSTARS IS COMING TO BANJUL TO FIND THE BEST STARTUP IN THE GAMBIA
PRESS RELEASE
SEEDSTARS BANJUL, GAMBIA
Paradise Hotel and Suites,
3 Paradise Beach Place, Kololi.
On the 13th of September, 2019, around ten of The Gambia’s best seed-stage startups will compete to represent the country at the Seedstars Summit and win up to USD 500,000 in equity investments and other prizes.
Geneva, Switzerland, 20th August, 2019 – Seedstars World, the largest startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes is coming to The Gambia for the 2nd time. With the support of the local host Paradise Suites Hotel, Seedstars will be holding a dynamic Pitch event on 13th of September 2019 , at 4 pm.
The companies invited to the training session and to privately pitch at the Seedstars Banjul event need to have raised less than USD 500k in funding and built a minimum viable product, ideally with existing traction. The Seedstars team is searching for one additional criterion: the startup’s regional and global scalability.
Besides representing The Gambia at the Seedstars Regional Summit, the winner will get a chance to win an all-inclusive trip to Switzerland, to compete at the Seedstars Summit for the title of Seedstars Global Winner and up to USD 500,000 in equity investments and other prizes.
The applications are open until 30th of August and startups are invited to apply at https://www.seedstarsworld.com/event/seedstars-banjul-2019. After a careful screening, the Seedstars team will shortlist around ten of the best seed-stage startups in The Gambia to pitch on the 13th of September, 2019 for the opportunity to compete at the Seedstars Summit, that annually takes place in Switzerland.
Additionally, DOEN partnered with Seedstars to launch the DOEN Land Restoration Prize, in order to find and award the best tech(-enabled) solutions in the land restoration and land degradation space on the continent.
““We are very excited to come back to The Gambia for the 2nd time! The stakes are higher than ever as we’ve been in this ecosystem for years now and know there are companies in Gambia’s developing high-quality products. We are looking for the best and asides attending the Africa regional summit, they have an opportunity to be chosen to represent Africa at the global summit in Switzerland in 2020!”, says Claudia Makadristo, Regional Manager for Africa at Seedstars.
In order to provide local entrepreneurs with this opportunity and aiming to deliver the best possible event, Seedstars is closely working with Bliss Executives who is representing the initiative throughout the year. “We strongly believe that building the capacity of youths in technology is the way forward to create new jobs in emerging markets like Gambia and this will accelerate innovation and foster economic development.” explains David Jeng, Founder and Managing Consultant, at Bliss Executives.
Youth Empowerment Project, Gambia are the main sponsors of the event. “The EU-funded Gambia Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) supports 27 Gambian tech startups operating in areas such as Fintech, Edutech, E-commerce and Healthtech under its YEP Tech component.
YEP is partnering with Seedstars World to organise the second edition of the Banjul competition. As part of its mandate, YEP is committed to fostering job creation for the youths of The Gambia and we believe that promoting entrepreneurship is key to creating jobs and generating revenues. The partnership between YEP and Seedstars aims at providing Gambian tech entrepreneurs with international exposure, insights, networking and training. We aim to contribute to putting The Gambia on the regional and global tech entrepreneurship map” explains Raimund Moser, YEP Gambia Project Manager.
Further support is provided by Bliss Executives and Disrupt Africa
ABOUT SEEDSTARS
“They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds.” – Mexican proverb
Seedstars is a Swiss-based private group of companies with a mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship. The groups’ activities cover over 80 emerging ecosystems through a variety of events such as the Seedstars World Competition, acceleration programs, physical hubs called Seedspace, venture capital investments and company building activities.
ABOUT SEEDSTARS WORLD COMPETITION
Seedstars World is the world’s largest startup competition in emerging markets. For the past six years, Seedstars Teams travel around for a 9-month world tour and scout for the best early-stage startups in 65+ countries, organizing 100+ events. One winner is selected to represent each country visited, and is invited to attend one of the 5 Regional Summits, reuniting all local winners of each region to network with regional investors, mentors and corporates. Local winners are also awarded the chance to represent their countries at the Seedstars Summit, the competition’s final happening in Switzerland, where startups compete for up to $500,000 in investment. The Seedstars Summit is the flagship event of Seedstars, filled with breakout sessions, panel discussions, specialized workshops and the best minds from emerging markets.
Press Contact:
High-resolution photos, logos, as well as press information and interview options are available on demand.
CONTACT
Media Relations, Seedstars
Laura Eboa Songue
laura@seedstars.com
About The Author
