African Startup business to explore

Let’s have a sneak peak into the African Startup System. Smart Insights reports that in 2015 mobile ad spending accounted for 49% of digital ad spending, which is only slightly behind the trends of how people are using their devices.

African Startups 2015 was a year to remember. Five of the African startups made it to the MITx Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp which was held in Aug 2015 in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. IT News Africa highlighted those nine entrepreneurs and their ventures. Here is what they are doing

• Bus Stop by Emmanuel Adegboye from Lagos is solving the problem of navigation using the various available public transportation options in Africa.
• Slatecube by Chris Kwekowe from Lagos is leveraging knowledge with skill-acquisition to promote employability and social development by allowing individuals to learn, work with companies on projects, and possibly get employed to do the things they love! Slatecube is powered by leading schools and organizations.
• Verdant by Nasir Yammama who currently resides in London is an Agtech startup.  Verdant essentially collects agricultural data from different sources and places it at the convenience of the farmer. Additionally, it as well provides all-round support from pre-planting to harvest and beyond.
• Aajoh by Similoluwa Adejumo from Lagos optimises hospital productivity and revenues by transforming health care delivery into a simple, fast, secure and automated Web platform. This increases accessibility to healthcare delivery and improves standardization of health care
• ThinkAndZoom by Zuby Onwuta who is in Austin, Texas has built a wearable technology that is intended to provide hands free visual magnification for the visually impaired. According to developer, Zuby Onwuta, ThinkandZoom is essentially powered by the human mind.

African Incubators World Bank reports that there are now around 90 tech hubs across the continent, and more than half of Africa economies have at least one. Whereas Venture Africa reports that there are 200 incubators. Here is a list of top ten incubators compiled by Venture Africa

• Think Incubator
• West African Agri-Business Resource Incubator (WAARI)
• CRE8 South Africa (i-CRE8 SA)
• The Rwanda Media Hub
• The Passion Incubator
• Sorghum Value Chain Development Consortium (SVCDC): 
• SWAPP (Sustainable West Africa palm oil programme): 
• Seda Construction Incubator
• Edupreneurs
• CIPMEN (Niger)

African Entrepreneurship Award is by far the oldest and the most celebrated award.