Applications for the 2022 MEST Africa Challenge kicked off in July this year for pre-seed and seed-stage technology startups in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya, and South Africa to bid for the ultimate prize of $50,000.

These startups went through stages involving online applications, regional pitches, and founder interview phases of the competition, before making it to the final pitch. They will represent their country at the Demo Day and Final Pitch Competition scheduled to be held in Accra Ghana in December 2022.

They include:

1. Sproutly from Nigeria, a digital banking, tuition financing for teens and students. The startup provides payments, education management and credits for schools;
2. Kwely from Senegal is an innovative made-in-Africa B2B brand incubation and digital distribution platform;
3. Swoove from Ghana is a last-mile delivery and fulfillment tech startup building e-commerce infrastructure for SMEs and commerce companies on the continent;
4. Hisa of Kenya is building the tech infrastructure for investing in Africa and;
5. Desert Green Africa of South Africa is an agritech transforming the Informal Agri-value chain in Africa by providing more efficient delivery of Fresh produce from small-scale farmers to informal traders.

Speaking on the selection of the top 5 startups, the Director of Portfolio at MEST Africa, Melissa Nsiah said:

“It hasn’t been an easy process. Mostly because, this year, we saw so many valid business models and met some incredible founders with huge visions that align very closely with ours. But in the final analysis, we were able to zero in on the cream of the crop to select the top 5 companies from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal and South Africa in alignment with this year’s selection criteria. Our team is eager to work closely with each of the 5 finalists in preparation towards the final competition day in December.”

The program is organised by pan-African training program, seed fund, incubator and hub, MEST Africa and is Africa’s go-to pitch competition for technology startups looking to get to the next level of their growth journey. 

The challenge provides a stage for technology startups to raise funding, build industry networks and gain international visibility that would serve them well in growing and expanding their businesses. 

MEST Africa Challenge has received thousands of applications from around the continent since its inception. It has spotlighted and impacted the growth of winning startups such as Tanzania’s Kilimo Fresh, Ghana’s OZE, South Africa’s Snode Technologies, Kenya’s Waya Waya, and Nigeria’s Accounteer.

Benefits 

The 2022 MEST Africa Challenge presents the following benefits to successful applicants:

• Funding of up to $50,000
• Perk prizes from MEST Strategic Partners
• Global visibility
• Build your networks
• Professional coaching
• Mentorship from experts
• Join the global MEST Community for lifetime benefits

Eligibility 

Interested startups must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Pre-seed or seed-stage — have raised $100k total or less cumulatively since inception
• Currently generating revenue 
• Can demonstrate traction in one or more of the five MAC Markets (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal)
• Has been in operation for 2 years or less
• Tech-enabled (software company)
• Industry agnostic
• Any business model (B2B, B2C, B2B2C, B2G etc…)

How to apply 

Applications for the 2022 MEST Africa Challenge are open till Tuesday, August 30, 2022. Join the Challenge to scale your startup globally.