IT News Africa’s Abe Wakama joins Seedstars panel

IT News Africa’s Founder & Managing Director, Abe Wakama, has been selected as one of the judges at this year’s Soweto leg of the Seedstars World Challenge.

Seedstars World promotes, connects and invests up to $1.5m in emerging markets through its startup competitions in 60 countries, including Nigeria, South Africa, Australia, and Hong Kong.

Abe Wakama, with the help of a talented team of professionals, has grown IT News Africa into one of Africa’s leading technology media companies with interests in print, digital media and conferencing. Abe has a solid understanding of African business drivers and is well travelled across the continent.

Wakama has built an invaluable network of ICT business leaders within Africa and his opinion is highly sought after; evidenced by the number of TV and radio interviews (BBC Radio, CNBC, SABC etc.), and industry conferences and competitions he has been invited to participate in.

These are the judges for Seedstars Soweto:

• Clive Butkow – Chief Executive Officer at Grotech
• Lusapho Njenge – Chief Strategy and Information at Seda
• Linda Swart – Incubation Manager at Standard Bank
• Ogone Ntwae – Innovation and R&D at The Innovation Hub
• Selam Kebede – Senior Associate at Seedstars world
• Abe Wakama – MD/ Founder, IT News Africa

With winners already selected from Durban and Cape Town, the stage is now set for the Gauteng leg of the event – which is to be held on 14 June, 2016 at eKasi labs in Soweto, with the finale set to take place on 30 June in Johannesburg, South Africa at the Standard Bank Incubator.

Start-ups selected to participate in Seedstars Soweto include: 

• DroneSnap :DroneSnap is an online platform that provides on-demand, high quality, professional drone operators for all forms of aerial imaging.
• Riovic: Riovic provides digital and P2P insurance backed by crowdfunded reinsurance.
• BOTTLES: BOTTLES is an alcohol delivery app that delivers alcohol to your door in under 60 minutes.
• Zula Afrika: A non-traditional, technology enabled public transport service, offering commuters the convenience and flexibility that they are used to.
• Sortd: A communication-centric organizer that transforms email and instant messaging into a set of organized to-do lists.
• Masokko: An Africa-centric B2B e-marketplace driven to help small and medium enterprises in agriculture, food and beverages to sell their goods to export markets.
• Black Industrialists (Pty) Ltd: An application that channels ED funds to smallholder farmers through monitoring, evaluation and reporting before access to markets.
• Pinard Aéronautique: This startup created a Pinard’s P3210 helicopter, an affordable, FAA-compliant solution that folds away when not in use.
• GEM Payment Services GEM: Offers a mobile payment platform to reward social action.
• UmoyAir Communications: UmoyAir provides free calls from mobile phones to any number without airtime or data.
• GoldPay: GoldPay is a financially inclusive asset-backed investment, savings and money sharing platform created on a blockchain technology.

This year, over 4000 applicantions were received for the Seedstars World Challenge globally. Among the entries, only 65 finalists were selected. Out of the 65 finalists, only one start-up will be crowned as the winner at the finale in Johannesburg. The overall winner will join the global Seedstars Family and take part in the Seedstars Summit hosted in Geneva, Switzerland. There is an additional opportunity to win up to $500,000 equity investment.

Darryl Linington
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