Intel and AfriLabs collaborate to support the African Deep Tech Startup Ecosystem
AfriLabs is excited to announce that we have partnered with the global manufacturer of advanced integrated digital technology platforms, Intel to gain a deeper understanding of the African deep-tech startup ecosystem and identify pathways in which Intel can extend their support to deep tech startups on the continent. The startup scene in Africa has experienced incredible growth in recent years, and this is partly a result of several significant interventions by stakeholders to enable entrepreneurship and innovation in local ecosystems. AfriLabs and Intel’s collaboration hopes to sustainably build on the work done and set a framework for future interventions. “To give more impactful support to the startup ecosystem in Africa, we need to consider specialised capacity building. Different kinds of startups need different kinds of support, and the AfriLabs partnership with Intel explores learning more about how we could better support deep tech ventures. I am particularly excited about this collaboration and how it would lay the foundation for deeper interactions between the ecosystem and big global tech players like Intel.” Anna Ekeledo, Executive Director, AfriLabs said during her opening remarks. At the official partnership agreement signing ceremony on the 24th of May, 2022, Intel was represented by Maurits Tichelman, Vice President SMG & GM EMEA Territory, Intel (virtual), Dr Bienvenu AGBOKPONTO SOGLO, Director, Government Affairs Africa and EMEA CTO Liaison, Intel (onsite), Kate Hach, Head of Program, Intel Ignite’s accelerator (virtual) and the Emerging Markets Director for Government and Education of Intel Corporation, Mr Sven Beckmann (virtual). “As part of our desire to support the African Startups Ecosystem, Intel is looking to learn from and harvest new technology disruptions that will help position Intel’s Business in Africa in areas such as Healthcare, Fintech, Agriculture, E-commerce, Mobility, Hardware/IoT that are enabled by Intel Technologies.” said Maurits Tichelman, Vice President SMG & GM EMEA Territory, Intel during the signing ceremony. “It is in this regard, that we are signing a collaboration agreement with AfriLabs” he continued. Anna Ekeledo, Executive Director of AfriLabs, Daniel Chinagozi, Member of the AfriLabs Board, Ajibola Odukoya, AfriLabs COO, Nekesa Were, Director of Strategy, AfriLabs, Felista Aku, Partnerships Manager at AfriLabs and other members of the AfriLabs team represented the AfriLabs. A cross-section of high-level local and regional innovation ecosystem key players was also present. The partnership will leverage AfriLabs’ pan-African reach to map startups and ecosystem stakeholders and provide recommendations for future modes of collaboration that will ensure continuous deal flow and establish a presence for Intel. Dr Bienvenu AGBOKPONTO SOGLO, Director Government Affairs Africa & EMEA CTO Liaison, Intel also spoke about the organisation’s ambition: “As Intel looks ahead to the next decade, our ambitions and opportunities have never been greater to unleash the power of data and help advance integrated corporate responsibility strategies in which companies use collaborative models to drive increased value creation and societal impact.” A prominent outcome of this partnership is that African startups in deep-tech will be introduced to Intel programs: Intel Ignite and Intel OneAPI for startups. A hybrid workshop focused on these programs was held after the signing ceremony with several startups from across the continent in attendance. Stay tuned as we share more about the activities of this partnership and how you can be a part of it. For more information, reach out to Felista Aku at felista@afrilabs.com.
Celebrating Africa’s Trade Genius and Mapping the Future of Intra-African Trade
Africa has a rich history of trade that we should celebrate and learn from. As Africans eager to do business across the continent, we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors who perfected trade across the region and the continent, like Mirambo of the Nyamwezi of Tanzania, and King Kaleb of Aksum of Ethiopia and Eritrea leading well-known trading civilisations that transacted with their neighbours as well as foreigners. Think of our ancient and famous trading cities such as Kilwa Kisiwani and Sofala off the Eastern coastline. Indeed, the art and practice of trade that is rooted in African genius and history, influenced the whole world. From the Mutapa kingdom’s trade, that stretched from Zimbabwe across to Mozambique, to the city of Gao in West Africa whose trade routes reached Cairo in North Africa, Africans traversed deserts, rivers, forests and oceans in pursuit of business solutions for Africa and the world – think of the Sahara trade route that was part of the original silk road – reaching ancient Afghanistan, Iraq and China! “We must tell these stories because this is where we will find ourselves. And to know that we are descendants of innovative, successful, culturally shrewd business people.. from craftspeople to diplomats, to engineers to doctors to philosophers, to educationalists. Colonialism robbed us of these stories, it robbed us of our dignity and we only get this dignity back by realising that our history began long before the scramble for Africa”. Mona Nya Our organisation, infrastructure, communication and ability to regulate how we traded, what we traded and with whom we traded were key centuries ago. This enabled us to successfully manufacture goods at production centres that we built, and trade them within our communities and with traders from China, Europe and so on. This was our trade genius. We always understood the value of intra African and global trade and for a long time, we did it effectively. However, there were failures along the way, which saw Africa lose her raw materials, put up boundaries and lose trust in her own people. AfriLabs, Mozilla and Omidyar Network were honoured to host Brian Kagoro, Mona Nya, Adetola Onayemi, Bismark Addo and José Luis Tavares Semedo for a conversation that reflected on this rich history and shared ideas for how we could collectively ensure successful modern-day intra African trade. Watch Brian Kagoro’s keynote here. We concluded that to set us up on the right path to successful intra-African trade, one of the more important issues to determine was our larger ‘WHY’ to keep us on mission and educate our movement, interactions and decisions. “We are in a generation where hundreds of years of miseducation and schooling have taught our people that when they approach the global market they do so from a point of inferiority, or catch up or trying to mimic that external world. So in the absence of a larger WHY, a purpose that drives us, a consciousness, a self-belief and self-confidence, we are likely to be caught up in what we are seeing as Europe and American myths”. – Brian Kagoro The future of intra African trade is in our hands and its success is dependent on the actions of Pan Africans from all spheres from financial and development institutions, to civil society, corporates, innovators, entrepreneurs, storytellers, historians, national governments and so on working towards Africa’s economic development, self-sufficiency and dignity. For their part, Africa’s innovators continue to show their capacity to innovate world-class products and services and build world-class businesses. Acquisitions, taking companies public, successful fundraises, improved livelihoods, digitalisation across African entities, demand for skill and knowledge, regional and Pan African scale of businesses and steady increase of local funders for local businesses are a testament to the fact that the African innovation ecosystem has been gearing up for Pan African domination and is ready for a new wave of exponential growth fueled in part by the supportive structure that AU member states have now promised to provide through the African Continental Free Trade Area. Historically, we are a people willing to put in the work to contribute to long term development whether technological or economical. At AfriLabs we showcase this in the way our member hubs and partners preserve our history, protect our innovations, produce new innovations continuously and provide holistic support to innovators across the continent. Members like the Media Innovation Network that is supporting creative storytellers and Baraza Media Lab that’s working to strengthen Kenya’s media ecosystem are ensuring that innovation stories are told well and preserved. Association of Startup and SME Enablers of Kenya, Ghana Hubs Network and Innovation Support Network have been at the forefront of leading policy agendas by ensuring that the needs and rights of the innovator are top of mind when crafting national innovation policies. These networks are also amplifying the voices of their hub members to increase national collaborations and catalyse sustainable growth of their national innovation ecosystems. Hubs across the continent are supporting manufacturing processes and connecting customers to hardware, engineering and manufacturing companies to increase Africa’s capacity to produce finished goods. Check out this Nigeria Hardware Ecosystem Map championed by Clintonel Innovation Centre among others. Gearbox on its part offers prototyping facilities, training in manufacturing, fabrication and design as well as mentorship, investment opportunities and community development. Our partners Liquid Technologies are working with hubs like Innovation Village, Bongo Hive and others by offering critical infrastructures like high-speed connectivity and cloud services, and supporting gaming and IOT as avenues for African innovators to create. AfriLabs member hubs across the continent are providing holistic support to innovators across the continent by offering open, safe spaces for community-led innovation, mentorship, care to ensure mental health, programs to develop entrepreneurship skills and grow businesses, and connections to private and public sector actors. Our hubs are now working towards facilitating cross border trade by creating amongst them a masterpass that gives entrepreneurs business support in 347 hubs spread across 52 African countries, and this network continues to