DEMO Africa has announced the 40 finalists who will be demonstrating at the first DEMO Africa Conference.
DEMO Africa is an initiative that aims to be “… the place where the most innovative companies from African countries come to launch their products and announce to Africa and the world what they have developed.” The 40 finalists for the DEMO Africa Conference were arrived at from an initial field of 500 applications, which was recently pared down to 150 potential startups before the final 40 were announced today.
The finalists are spread over five categories; Social Media, Cloud Services, Mobile, Consumer and Enterprise Technologies, with entrants from South Africa and Kenya making up the bulk of the shortlist. Other countries represented include Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal, Egypt, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
Harry Hare, who announced the finalists, said “Many entrepreneurs did not make the final cut despite having excellent ventures. We wish we could launch all of them at DEMO Africa, but that’s practically not possible. We will however engage all of them and see how to assist them through the partnerships we have created to move their businesses to the next level.”
Judges for the finalists included representatives from the University of Stellenbosch Nokia, PN Consultancy, Viktoria Solutions, Research Africa, Ushahidi/iHub, Technovision, DEMO Africa as well as GadgetMaven’s Toby Shapshak.
The DEMO Africa event will be held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi from 24 to 26 October 2012.
