Over Kshs. 4 Million Shillings Up For Grabs! Find Out Where!

Tusker Project Fame brought you singers, Sakata brought you dancers and The Presenter brought you News anchors. Techies your time has come!

Upstart Africa is a TV show that will act as a start-up accelerator that will be hitting your screens soon as producers and innovators  noticed that there was a need to bring to light a concept that had previously been explored: technology. Young techpreneurs from different parts of the country with various skills sets such as developers, creatives and entrepreneurs with leadership skills will come together to bring you  Upstart Africa.

These young techpreneurs will be divided into eight teams of five and will be competing to develop commercially viable innovations with social impact over a period of 13 weeks. The teams will be offered professional support, capacity building, training and leadership skills from the various mentors and investors. The winning team in the end will receive $50,000 (approximately  4.4 Million) in investment for their project.

The aim of Upstart Africa is to bring the “cool and fun factor” into technology and entrepreneurship. Their purpose is to influence attitudes on technology and entrepreneurship, to inspire innovations that achieve both economic value and social impact.

The Venture Capitalists involved in the show include Alpesh Patel (founder and CEO, Mi-Fone), Kamal Budhabatti (founder and CEO, Craft Silicon) and Erik Hersman (co-founder, Ushahidi).

The mentors will include Lydia Byarugaba (Africa Leader, Strategic growth markets), Mbwana Alliy (Founder, Savannah Fund) and Jimmy Gitonga (iHub Manager) among others. The auditions will be held in Mombasa, Eldoret, Nairobi and Kisumu.