PIVOT East, a startups competition geared towards nurturing the growing ICT talent in East Africa has officially opened for 2016. The objective of this year’s competition is “to facilitate discovery of the next wave of high potential startups in the region”. Entries can be made between today and midnight EAT) September 8th 2016.
PIVOT East is organised by m:lab East Africa an initiative of the iHub. Startups can join the competition through the PIVOT East Startups Community Network website which also has information on eligibility criteria. Applications to compete in 2016 will be entered as detailed startup profiles which describe the customer pain, the startups solution, revenue streams, team composition and commitment, market traction, short term projections and milestones. Applicants are also required to upload a short video of the founders expressing the mission and strength of their startups on their VC4Africa profile.
The competition has five categories which are; Finance, Enterprise, Entertainment, Utilities and Society and Governance. Each category will feature five finalists who will pitch to an audience of Investors, and other key stakeholders from East Africa. The 25 finalists will also receive training and coaching on how to pitch to investors. The overall startup profile will be used by the competition judges who will mostly be investors to score the potential of the startup to become a sustainable high growth enterprise.The competition comprises of a series of activities that will culminate in the finalists conference which will be held on 15th November 2016.
Go right ahead and complete your startup profile.