NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 17 – Three Kenyan companies have emerged finalists of the latest Airbus Bizlab #Africa4Future accelerator programme, a competition that aims to encourage and support entrepreneurship in Africa.
The three include Astral Aerial, which uses drones for humanitarian cargo transport, surveillance and emergency response, and Lentera Limited which applies remote sensors to monitor and transmit environmental data to allow smarter farming.
MobiTect water solutions, an online real-time water monitoring solution that allows businesses, homes and water-service providers to manage their available water using an app-based dashboard and instant messaging, also made the cut.
The top 10 start-ups were selected from 314 entries representing 19 African countries that were received when the challenge was opened last October.
#Africa4Future is a joint business accelerator initiative of Airbus and GIZ’s Make-IT in Africa initiative together with the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), a non-profit seed fund and pan-African organisation that brings together startups, entrepreneurs and the tech community, and Innocircle, the South African-based innovation consultancy.
The Nairobi event kicks off an intensive 6-month business incubation and accelerator programme involving technical, commercial and mentorship activities in France, Germany and South Africa.
This includes workshops and coaching sessions with Airbus experts, GIZ’s Make-IT in Africa, MEST and Innocircle coaches.
The programme will culminate with Demo Day events at the biennial Paris International Airshow and a special event in Germany from 19-26 June, when finalists will launch their products, define their collaboration with Airbus and announce their investment commitments in front of representatives from across the aerospace industry.