Afrigather The Gulf Data Know-how Exhibition (GITEX) desires to result in 100 Nigerian corporations to Marrakech, Morocco the place the second version of the occasion in Africa (GITEX Africa) is happening in Might 2024. Final yr solely seventy tech startups from Nigeria, out of 450 international startups, participated within the occasion.
At a stakeholders assembly on Tuesday 27 February 2024, the organisers, Dubai World Commerce Centre, stated it was increasing Nigeria’s participation within the occasion due to the position tech corporations from the nation have performed within the improvement of the ecosystem in Africa.
The taking part startups would have the chance to compete for a $100,000 prize cash for the startup with essentially the most compelling innovation. There are different prizes to compete for together with the Younger African CEO award which comes with a financial prize.
This yr’s version comes with the launch of World Future Health Africa, an initiative that seeks to carry extra consideration to the digital well being area with the potential to offer reasonably priced and accessible healthcare. Funding to digital well being corporations and initiatives on the continent continues to be very low because of the complicated and divergent regulatory panorama, the World Future Well being Africa famous on its web site. This complexity dissuades potential traders and obstructs essential monetary assist for the area.
The 100 startups might be chosen from accelerators and different stakeholders working with the Dubai World Commerce Centre, the occasion organiser. Dubbed the largest tech gathering in Africa, GITEX presents startups the platform to current their improvements to a various choice of traders from completely different nations together with Nigeria. Additionally they study from the experiences of entrepreneurs and founders who’ve constructed international and native corporations, in addition to work together with regulators on the continent.
As a part of post-event onboarding, startups that attend GITEX Africa are sometimes matched to traders in keeping with the trade the place they function. The organisers additionally curate a program that permits startups to fulfill with potential purchasers, together with authorities businesses searching for particular modern options tailor-made to the challenges their nations face.
Whereas GITEX is sector-agnostic, organisers typically comply with market developments and search startups which are offering options within the markets traders are specializing in. This typically influences the standards for startup choice. For instance, the present pattern favours startups working with synthetic intelligence, fintech, agrotech, and healthtech startups. The organisers additionally favor startups with merchandise already available in the market. Nevertheless, for founders with concepts to pitch, they’ve to make sure the concepts are examined and are market viable. The founders have to have some traction to pitch to traders.
