MyAfricanStartUp & African Development Bank Launch Their 1st Annual Meeting

MyAfricanStartUp & African Development Bank Launch the 1^st Annual Meeting of African Start-ups on May 26^th & 27^th 2015 in Abidjan

The kick-off meeting of the initiative MyAfricanStartUp in cooperation with the African Development Bank (AFDB) will take place in Abidjan on May 26^th and 27^th 2015. For the first time, the African Development Bank opens its doors to an event exclusively dedicated to start-ups, integrating it into the official program of its annual meeting. The event starts on may 26^th at “La Maison de l’Entreprise”, the new headquarters of the Confederation of the main companies of Ivory Coast (CGECI) and continues on May 27^th at the “Sofitel Ivoire Hotel”. These days, organized around plenary sessions, round tables, workshops and master classes will be accentuated by entrepreneur’s pitches. The entire event can be streamed live on the Internet.

Following the announcement of this initiative at the end of 2014, the launch of MyAfricanStartUp will be the highlight of a new roadshow of 5 days, taking 50 international and African entrepreneurs from Lagos to Abidjan passing through Benin, Togo and Ghana. Traveling by “Venture Bus”, this journey gives the entrepreneurs the opportunity to share their experiences and to enhance the presentation of their innovative concept in order to demonstrate it in front of the general public and the jury of the event.

“Supported by the African Development Bank, My AfricanStartUp helps entrepreneurs to increase their influence in Africa and internationally in order to increase their growth and strengthen their expertise”, explains Christian Kamayou. Not only founders of start-up businesses from all over Africa are brought together through this event, but also the media, opinion and political leaders as well as potential investors. With the help of its airline partners Air France-KLM supports this initiative to facilitate the trip to Abidjan of several young African entrepreneurs. Another partner of MyAfricanStartUp is the the prestigious Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), offering the African start-ups free online classes linked to entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the award-winner of 2015’s edition will be invited to Switzerland for a few days where he or she will be supported with his or her start-up company project.

“In a short period of time, My AfricanStartUp give us digital and event mechanisms to discover plenty of African start-ups in phase of creation or fund raising process. They are trying to prove the viability of their concept. I chose to invest in AS Food, a start-up who intend to become a multinational leader for the preservation of the agro-food products with its smart technology”, confirms Victor NONO, investor.