AfricArena wraps up Southern Africa Summit, awards winning startups

AfricArena just concluded a successful Southern Africa Summit, the most significant tech startup ecosystem event of the region, that ran from May 19 to 20 in Workshop 17, Johannesburg. This two-day conference featured pitches from over 20 startups operating from Southern Africa between the seed stage and growth stage. The event attracted keynotes and panel discussions from top regional leaders in tech, business, and investment.

AfricArena is an African tech ecosystem accelerator providing a platform where tech startups can share business ideas, network, and attract funding. The Southern Africa Summit is the first of four regional events AfricArena will host throughout the continent.

Over 20 startups presented innovative solutions during the 2-day event. The pitch session was in three phases: seed stage, series A, and growth stage. Winners were 123tutors (Best seed stage), Lupiya (Best series A), EMguidance (Best growth stage), Snode (most innovative business model), and Zamokuhle Thwala (most promising entrepreneur).

The event was sponsored by Technology Innovation Agency, the French Embassy in SA, Edge Growth, and Amazon Web Services.

At the event’s opening, Aurelien Le Chevallier, the French Ambassador in SA described the event as “ important to inspire entrepreneurs to expand beyond local borders.”

Abu Cassim, the Founder of Jozi Angels expressed delight in the “in-person event” saying it brought together “brought together a group of awesome people.”

Top speakers that headlined the two-day event were Olivier Laouchez (CEO of Trace Group), Abu Cassim (founder of Jozi Angels), and Philip Kiracofe (Co-founder of Startupbootcamp AfriTech). Before the end of the event, investors from Kalon Venture Partners and Lelemba Phiri pitched their funds to three startups.

The next AfricArena regional summit will take place in late June in Dakar Senegal.

And that's a wrap of the @AfricArena2021 Southern Africa Summit! Congratulations to the winning startups : @123Tutors (Seed) @Lupiyaloans (Series A) @EMGuidance (Growth) @AgriCool5 CEO (emerging entrepreneur) and @Snode_Tech (most innovative startup) and @AfriTrustGroup(investor) pic.twitter.com/LNdiVBZrLv

— AfricArena (@AFRICARENA) May 20, 2021