Smart Africa is an inter-governmental organization made up of 23 countries from across the African continent, whose goal is to transform Africa into a single digital economy. The organization also seeks to mid-wife Africa’s transformation into ICT center through supporting the growth of tech startups.
During the recent Transform Africa Summit 2018, Smart Africa entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with World Startup Festival (WSF) to partner up in a mission that will see 100 African digital entrepreneurs come to life within the next five years.
“We are delighted to be in Rwanda and to be partnering with Smart Africa. We also look forward to be working with Smart Africa in the lead up to our inaugural event in Paris next month, and providing African entrepreneurs access to a global platform that is creating new solutions for society through disruptive technologies and international business networking with corporations, policymakers, and startups worldwide,” – Freda Miriklis, President WSF.
WSF is an international entrepreneurship platform running from California, USA and brings together startups, government agencies, and private business leaders from different parts of the world onto the same table. The goal of the meet up is to create avenues for collaboration, investment, and empowerment of ventures ran by youths.
Part of the MoU includes the training of startup entrepreneurs in the WSF D’Academy Accelerator Bootcamps, which will be designed to get them ready for seed funding and international business collaboration.
WSF commitment to supporting 100 African digital entrepreneurs over the next five years is already evident in the fact that the World Startup Festival 2019 will be held in Africa. The organization has also created the WSF Smart Africa Press Club and is already working on a collaboration with various media agencies across Africa to help in shining the spotlight onto the African business scene. The organization is also working to partner with international news agencies to achieve the same goal.
WSF has an agenda or empowering the youth and bridging the gender divide. The organization believes that empowering the youths and women will be key towards achieving 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.