The Africa Mobility Initiative is calling on startups with solutions that seek to mitigate the continent’s mobility challenges to apply for an accelerator.
The Africa Transformative Mobility Accelerator is looking to take on eight startups for its 2020 cohort. Applicants from Kenya and Uganda will be prioritized, it said.
The eight will each receive grants of up to $25 000 during the Africa Transformative Mobility Summit, which is set to take place in October.
Applications close on 31 March.
Startups in Kenya and Uganda will be prioritised for The Africa Mobility Initiative’s 2020 accelerator cohort
The Africa Mobility Initiative said on its website that the increase in urban population in African cities has resulted in the diversification and upsurge in transport needs.
“Both public transport and private car use have drastically risen resulting to road congestion and air pollution. This nonetheless, provides a huge opportunity to provide transformative urban mobility solutions that can offer more travel options, reduce the travel time, cost and risk, and provide comfort for its users,” it said.
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Through a competitive process, the programme aims to admit transformative, practical, well researched and possibly tested solutions to urban mobility challenges in African Cities.
During the six-month acceleration period, which the accelerator expects to kick off in May, the startups will benefit in several ways, the accelerator said.
These include four startup immersion trips in East Africa (Kenya and Uganda for the 2020 cohort), coaching and mentoring, networking with mobility stakeholders and by attending a series of planned business support seminars.
Those startups selected for the accelerator will also be able to pitch their solutions to a pool of investors during the summit, which is set to take place in October in Nairobi.
It is not clear yet what measures the initiative will take if the coronavirus forces the acceleration programme and summit to shut down.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer.
He could be contacted at udohrapulu@gmail.com