Qualcomm has announced the 10 startups selected to participate in the inaugural Make in Africa startup mentorship program.
The program is part of the Qualcomm Africa Innovation Platform announced in December 2022.
These startups are developing innovative products in clean energy, agricultural technology, computing for education, geospatial predictive analysis, medical technologies, and innovations utilizing electric vehicles.
The Qualcomm Make In Africa startups will receive equity-free mentorship in business planning, engineering, intellectual property protection, and the application of advanced connectivity, sensing, AI/ML, and other processing technologies for innovative end-to-end systems solutions.
Announced in December 2022, Qualcomm Make in Africa will provide 1:1 mentorship for the shortlisted companies with Qualcomm leaders on a regular cadence to guide startups to product realization, as well as provide masterclasses on product management, pitch clinic, IPR, and hardware architecture.
The program will culminate in a finale demo day in December 2023, connecting startups with various industry leaders, venture capitalists, investors, and other accelerators.
“As part of our new Africa Innovation Platform, the Qualcomm Make in Africa mentorship program is one of many initiatives we are working on in close collaboration with government and industry stakeholders in Africa, to help position African entrepreneurs and researchers to service markets throughout the continent and realize their global ambitions.
We believe that startups based in Africa are best placed to identify uniquely African problems that can be solved through end-to-end systems solutions and new business models,” said Elizabeth Migwalla, Vice President and Head of Government Affairs (Middle East and Africa), Qualcomm International.
“We congratulate the shortlisted companies and look forward to a fruitful collaboration for innovation in the coming months.”
Startups Selected
The shortlisted startups for the Qualcomm Make in Africa are:
- Ecorich Solutions – patented organic composting in Kenya
- Fixbot – Vehicle diagnostics and inspection via OBD dongle in Nigeria
- Karaa – e-Bike tracking, charging, retrofit, and rentals in Uganda
- Maotronics Systems Limited – IOT-enabled precision agriculture in Nigeria
- Microfuse – Affordable plugin computers for the education sector in Uganda
- Neural Labs Africa Ltd – Deep learning and computer vision for healthcare diagnosis in Kenya and Senegal
- OneTouch Diagnostics – Diabetes patch and monitoring system in Nigeria
- QuadLoop – Leveraging e-waste for solar e-Lanterns and battery storage in Nigeria.
- SLS Energy – Recycled lead-cell battery storage banks in Rwanda
- SolarTaxi – Electric vehicle (EV) taxi and fleet management in Ghana
