Eight Nigerian start-ups are amongst 20 of the most promising African digital start-ups that will take part in the XL Africa residency, the flagship initiative of the business accelerator launched last April by the World Bank Group’s infoDev program. XL Africa is funded by the governments of Finland, Norway, and Sweden, and administered by the World Bank Group with implementation support from IMC Worldwide, VC4A, and Koltai & Co.
The program, which ends on November 17 in Cape Town, South Africa, will allow the entrepreneurs the opportunity to learn from their mentors and peers, increase their regional visibility, and get access to potential corporate partners and investors.
The eight selected Nigerian start-ups that will participate in the event include Electronic Settlement Limited (FinTech, Nigeria), MAX (Transport, Nigeria), ogaVenue (Venue Platform, Nigeria), Prepclass (EdTech, Nigeria), Printivo (Printing, Nigeria), Rensource (Energy, Nigeria), TalentBase (HR, Nigeria), and Tizeti Network Ltd. (Connectivity, Nigeria).Other participating African digital start-ups include Aerobotics (Data, South Africa), Asoko Insight (Data, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, United Kingdom, and Nigeria), Coin Afrique (Marketplace, Senegal and Benin), Edgepoint Digital (Jamii), (FinTech – Insurance, Tanzania),and Lynk Jobs Ltd. (HR, Kenya).
Others are Ongair (SME Services, Kenya), Pesabazaar.com (FinTech, Kenya), Rasello Company Ltd. (SME Services, Tanzania), Sendy Ltd. (Delivery, Kenya), Snapplify (Publishing, South Africa and Kenya), Sokowatch (Delivery, Kenya), and Timbuktu (Travel, South Africa).
The 20 successful African start-ups were selected from a pool of over 900 applicants, specializing in digital solutions for the African market, including Financial Technology (Fin-Tech), transportation, health care, education, human resources, and Business to Business (B2B).
All companies provide a digital product or service currently available in one or more African markets and show potential to scale across the region.
The residency will conclude with the XL Africa Venture Showcase, a regional event organised in association with the African Angel Investor Summit, in which the entrepreneurs will present their business models to a select audience of corporations and investors.
With support from African investment groups, XL Africa will help the start-ups attract early stage capital between $250, 000- $1.5 million.”We are pleased by the interest infoDev and XL Africa generated across the continent in just a few months,” Director of the Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice at the World Bank Group, Klaus Tilmes, said.According to him, XL Africa attracted firms with high-growth potential, with many having female co-founders, and have already raised early stage investment while also demonstrating significant market traction.