The Federal Government through the Ministry of Communication Technology secured the hosting of DEMO Africa 2014 which was announced by the Honourable Minister for Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson during the inauguration of the Local Organising Committee. DEMO Africa (www.demo-africa.com) is a flagship initiative established by U.S. Department of State, Microsoft, DEMO, USAID as a public private alliance that aims to connect African technology startups to the global ecosystem through an annual event whereby the most innovative companies from African countries come to demonstrate and launch their products and announce to Africa and the world what they have developed.
In the last two years, DEMO Africa has been hosted in Nairobi, Kenya to support the launch of 80 startups from 15 African countries. Last year event, 5 Nigerian tech startups were among the finalist with very unique solutions that were launched in Nairobi. Considering that Nigeria is hosting the event this year, it is the desire of the Honourable Minister that the ecosystem will take advantage of it to showcase out innovation in ICT to the world through participation of the Nigerian ICT startups or companies in this event taking place in Lagos Oriental Hotel on September 25 – 26, 2014.
As part of the process towards selecting innovative solutions, the online application for the DEMO Africa event is now opened from March 15 till June 15. And it is available at Demo Africa
This event is scheduled to take place between 22nd and 26th of September at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria.
All the applications will be vetted by a panel of judges comprising experts in Tech and Business who will shortlist the best forty on their ability to link creativity, innovation and effectiveness.
To be eligible to launch on the DEMO Africa stage, applicants MUST have a working product (not an idea) ready for market and the product must:
- Solve a commercial problem
- Make an impact or change the marketplace into which it is introduced or create a new market
- Have a business plan and a management team capable of delivering the product to market
- Make its public debut at the DEMO Africa conference
- Must be a registered company
Products that are not eligible include:
- Products currently in public distribution, either as a launched product or as a highly publicized beta test;
- Upgrades to an existing product;
- Products entering an already saturated market category with little market differentiation;
- Products that have been widely covered by technology and business media.
Launch categories for DEMO Africa 2014 include:
- Agriculture
- Health
- Education
- Manufacturing
- Retail
- Media and Entertainment
- Communication
- Transport and Logistics
- Energy
- Finance and Banking
- Water and Sanitation
- Waste Management and Recycling
These categories have been created to allow for an all-inclusive application.
Should you require further clarification or information, please contact Victor Okigbo, Joan Ene, Tunji Eleso and Kola Oyeneyi through their e-mail addresses; joan.ene@idea-nigeria.org;tunji@cchubnigeria.com; kola.oyeneyin@venia-group.com
