An innovation competition organized by three Belgium-based organizations — Ondernemers voor Ondernemers (OVO), Vlaams Instituut voor Technologisch Onderzoek (VITO) and Thomas More university – has been launched in Africa and Uganda will be the first host, officials have said.
Dubbed Sustech4Africa, or Sustainable Technology for Africa, the competition will unfold in September and end in November, with all events taking place in Kampala.
According to officials, the contest is aimed at enforcing entrepreneurs and scale-ups creating innovative and sustainable products and services.
“The competition aims to build strong relationships between entrepreneurs, generating viable and in-depth business plans while enhancing the tools to scale-up the different players,” say officials.
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A number of conditions have been set for startups interested in the contest. For instance, they must be located in Uganda, the startup should be registered as a business already (at least for a year), necessary investment in the company should amount to between EUR 5,000 and EUR 50,000. A startup should also already be having a business plan and anticipates to be profitable within the next 3 years.
Submission of applications is already underway and the deadline is September 20. After this, a panel of experts will choose the 10 most promising projects, which will be announced on October 15.
These projects will then proceed to the next phases of the challenge, which will involve workshops, “a masterclass and a boot camp uplifting your business plan, marketing spearheads and presentation skills.”
The 3 final winners of this competition will gain a potential investment capital in the form of a social loan and get a long-term access to business and technological expertise, officials say.
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