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World Bank Launches a Program to Support Digital Startups in Africa

BY Soko Directory Team · April 25, 2017 05:04 am

The World Bank Group on Friday launched a five-month business acceleration program, dubbed “XL Africa” that is meant to support the 20 most promising digital start-ups from Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Digital start-ups which will make it to the list will receive mentoring from global and local experts, learn through a tailor-made curriculum, increase their regional visibility, and get access to potential corporate partners and investors.

With support from prominent African investment groups, XL Africa will help the 20 selected start-ups attract early stage capital between $250,000 and $1.5 million.

According to Makhtar Diop, the Vice President for the Africa Region at World Bank, Digital start-ups are important drivers of innovation in Africa.

“To scale and spread new technologies and services beyond borders, they need an integrated ecosystem that provides access to regional markets and global finance; Pan-African initiatives like XL Africa play a critical role by linking local start-ups with corporations and investors across the continent,” Said Makhtar.

The program’s flagship activity includes a two-week residency in Cape Town, South Africa, where the ventures will have the opportunity to interact with and learn from their mentors, peers, and local partners. The Cape Town residency will conclude with the Venture Showcase, a regional event in which the entrepreneurs will present their business models to a select audience of corporations and investors.

The program will also collaborate with prominent African investment groups, including the African Business Angel Network (ABAN), AngelHub Ventures, Goodwell Investments, Knife Capital, Nest Africa, Silvertree Capital, Singularity Investments, South African Business Angel Network (SABAN), TLcom Capital, Zephyr Acorn and 4Di Capital, and corporate partners, such as Orange,Eco, Ringier, and Thomson Reuters.

Interested companies have been asked to apply online on the XL Africa website www.XL-Africa.com by Monday, June 12, 2017.

Soko Directory is a Financial and Markets digital portal that tracks brands, listed firms on the NSE, SMEs and trend setters in the markets eco-system. Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/SokoDirectory and on Twitter: twitter.com/SokoDirectory

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