Opportunity Title: NEW VENTURE COMPETITION

The New Venture Competition (NVC), a conference highlight, is a pitch competition for early-stage ventures, designed to showcase a new generation of innovators.

Participants will get a chance to win up to $30,000 in non-equity financing and network with top founders and investors from across Africa.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

The WABF New Venture Competition (NVC) seeks to elevate founders creating innovative products, solutions, or services that strategically tackle Africa’s biggest and most urgent challenges. To participate in the NVC, founders must meet the following criteria:

– Business must be at a pre-seed or seed stage (business must have raised no more than $150K)

– Business must primarily serve the African market, though it does not have to be domiciled in Africa

– Business must be less than three (3) years in operation, with no more than 50 employees

– Business must not be a recipient of any previous funding from the WABF NVC

JUDGING CRITERIA

The strength of an application will be assessed against the following broad category areas:

– Founding Team Experience: Does the current team have the required skills for execution? Is there a track record of building meaningful things and/or an exceptional career trajectory? How has the management team performed since the inception of the company/product

– Market and Traction: Is there a demonstrated need or gap in the market that the startup’s solutions solve? Is the total addressable market substantial enough to make this a lucrative investment opportunity? How is the market for the product/service growing and/or changing?

– Product Design and Business Model: Is the product better than every other thing on the market? Is customer acquisition more cost-effective than others? Is the product both economically viable for the company and affordable by the target customers? Does the startup have any competitive advantages or moats? Is there evidence to validate that the current business model can produce attractive returns and is scalable?

– Impact: How well does the solution tackle at least one of the UN’s SDGs?

Top finalists will pitch their startups to a panel of esteemed judges at the conference.