A Non governmental organisation, Lead Africa International, and State Ministry of Baden-Württemberg in Germany have planned to empower 20 start up with 100,000 euros in Nigeria.
The organisers disclosed this on Tuesday while addressing journalists in Lagos about their plan for small scale business owners in Nigeria and African as a whole.
According to the Executive Director of Lead African International, Mr Timi Olarenwaju, “Ministry of Baden Wurttemberg in Germany and I came together to train and empower start ups in Nigeria and Africa.
“We bring the two countries together to share ideas and how they can do business. We have seventeen start up business owners joining us from Europe and others from Africans countries like Uganda, Kenyan, South Africa and Nigeria in particular.
“We are going to train them and they are going to pitch their ideas and we are also going to select the best ideas and fund them with a little seed grants for their business to scale up. That’s just the basic focus of the event in Nigeria and other African countries.
“We believe the training and empowerment will play a key role to create a social and ecologically transformed economy in Africa and Baden-Württemberg who funded us. The
StartUp Afrika is a programme designed to support innovative startups through intercontinental exchange and network plus funding.
“The state of Baden-Württemberg has set out to expand partnerships with its counterparts on the African continent. As an export driven region and promoter for sustainable ideas, Startups and innovative partnerships play a key role.”
Olarenwaju added, “Nigeria was chosen because Nigeria is a focus anywhere, coupled with the population of youths, the market and the all other interests and innovation coming out from here on daily basis.
“Nigeria is a country nobody can look down on, we received about four hundred applications and selected only three hundred, being the maiden edition in Nigeria, there would be subsequent ones where we would meet and access what they have used the grants for and their business is fearing.”
Also, Mr. Philip Keil, the representative of the Ministry of Baden-Württemberg in Germany, said they are an organisation supporting startup business owners.
Keil said the initiative is to showcase some of Africa’s top social entrepreneurs and pioneers in diverse fields, who are creating prototype solutions across both tech and non-tech divides to help Africa
solve its critical challenges around digitization, fashion industry, cleantech and climate change, education and will leverage new technologies to create innovative solutions that have a significant impact on the society and the environment.
“Successful startups stand a chance to win and secure a seed grant of up to 100,000 euros and it would also enhance partnerships between African and German startups, create room for networking and knowledge sharing.
“The Ministry of Baden-Württemberg and SEZ, partners and sponsors of StartUp Afrika, we share common interest in enabling start-ups build solutions that will help Africa solve some of its biggest challenges. In our 2021 edition, we have strategically aligned to host this event in one of Africa’s biggest economy and startup hubs, Nigeria, and subsequently, across Africa.”
