The fourth edition of the “Algeria Startup Challenge” (ASC) program was opened on Monday, according to the organizers of this event dedicated to entrepreneurs, innovation, and technology.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy and Startups, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Fisheries and Fisheries Production, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Development will support the fourth edition, the incubator “Leancubator,” which is organizing the competition, stated in a press release.

This new edition will be structured around specific challenges, including the Foodtech Startup Challenge, which will focus on Agritech, and Aquatech firms and technologies focused on food safety.

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Another challenge, dubbed the Fintech Startup Challenge, will be dedicated to Fintech, Insurtech, and Legaltech start-ups and innovations with the theme “Innovation at the service of the financial sector,” and will be organized in collaboration with players in the financial, banking, insurance, and legal sectors.

The third HealthTech Startup Challenge, organized in collaboration with stakeholders in the health sector, pharmaceutical industry, and nutraceutical industry, will focus on startups and innovations in biotech, medtech, and food supplements under the theme “Innovation in the service of health and well-being.”

The organizer said the call for invention for this fourth edition will be posted “very soon” on the program’s official website and on the Soolvit open innovation platform for companies and innovators.

The ASC will conclude with a final yearly event at which ecosystem stakeholders will gather to discuss current issues and learn about the newest news and greatest innovations from participating startups and partner companies, which will be recognized during the ceremony, according to the release.

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Since 2018, the ASC program has collaborated with businesses and institutions devoted to fostering a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs in emerging sectors, organizing over 16 challenges and supporting over 4,000 startups and carriers of projects.

In 2021, this program won numerous honors, including the Best Skills Development and Innovation Support Program for 2021–2022 at the Western Mediterranean level at the WestMED initiative Awards in Rome and the FAO Algeria’s Active Contributor to the Goals Award World Food Day JMA2021.

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh

The third edition of the “Algeria Startup Challenge” program has identified three outstanding projects in the field of finance technology carried out by startups as winners. The identities of the three winning projects were revealed during a closing ceremony held in Algiers in the presence of CEOs of public enterprises, insurance firms, and banking institutions, as well as heads of economic institutions.

Under the “Insurtech” category, the jury’s choice was for “Amentech” solution, which provides insurers with a dematerialization service from the claims insurance counter and allows automobile insurance subscribers to make their report online shortly after an accident, including photos and testimonials.

The GCM (Global Cash Management) solution won the selection jury’s approval in the “Fintech” category. GCM recruits, identifies, and accepts buyers for its program, which provides traders with microcredits through installment sales contracts.

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The jury chose the “Moustachari” solution, a platform specializing in legal services that allows the management and monitoring of firms, master-lawyers, bailiffs, and notaries, for the “Regtech” category, which represents players who circle around financial regulation.

Since its inception in March, 55 projects have been registered, including 27 start-ups in the sector of finance (Fintech), 13 in the field of insurance (Insurtech), and 14 start-ups related to the digitization of regulatory and compliance activities (Regtech and Risk Management).

The jury is made up of specialists in various sectors who chose 24 startups at the start. They went through a second round of selection, with the help of a three-week support program, which resulted in the selection of nine finalists (three start-ups in each field).

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Mr. Berrah, the president of Cosob, stated at the end of the closing ceremony that “these selected initiatives would be backed by public corporations in order to find them money, even for the acquisition of participations in order to make these solutions a reality and integrate them.”

This competition, which is sponsored by the Minister of Knowledge Economy and Startups and co-organized by “Leancubator,” a company specializing in the design of incubation programs and Cosob, aims to bring together actors in Algeria’s innovative entrepreneurship ecosystem and to boost start-ups using innovative operational, technological, or economic models aimed at achieving a higher level of success.

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According to the competition’s organizers, the competition’s goal is to identify “potential champions who combine confidence and originality,” as well as to “strengthen Algeria’s position in the sectors of content creation.”

Algeria Startup Challenge Algeria Startup Challenge

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

The third edition of the “Algeria Startup Challenge” program has just been launched. This year’s edition will be dedicated to innovation in the industrial sector.

Placed under the sponsorship of the Algerian Minister responsible for the Knowledge Economy and Startups, the program aims to “bring together the actors of the ecosystem of innovative entrepreneurship in Algeria, the carriers of innovative projects and startups towards the goal of creating the innovations of tomorrow.”

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Here Is What You Need To Know

• After the “dazzling success” that the program has met since its creation in 2018 during its last two editions, the Algeria Startup Challenge returns this year with a new vision oriented towards innovation at the service of industries, thus responding to their needs in this area, underline the organizers.

• The 3rd edition will be organized under the umbrella of Leancubator, a company specializing in the design of incubation programs and support for innovative entrepreneurship, and “which focuses on human capital in the development of innovative projects, creators of values, ‘’ the statement read.

• The event is organized in the form of challenges in specialist industries: Foodtech Startup Challenge, Fintech Startup Challenge and GreenTech Startup Challenge, Logistics Startup Challenge.

• The first challenge is sponsored by the intersectoral committee “Algeria Food Security Innovation” bringing together several ministries namely, Fisheries and fishery products, Agriculture and Rural development, the ministry delegated to the Prime Minister in charge of the Economy of knowledge and Startups, Higher Education and Scientific Research, Vocational Training and Education as well as the Ministry of Industry. It targets three main sectors of the food system namely, smart agriculture, innovation in aquaculture and food security.

• Regarding the Fintech Startup Challenge, it is explained that, in collaboration with the Commission for the organization and supervision of stock exchange operations (COSOB), this program targets projects in Insurtech, Fintech or even Regtech and risk management .

• As for the GreenTech Startup Challenge module and Logistics Startup Challenge, it is specified that the latter relies on the collaboration of the main players in each sector, namely, public and private organizations, the national network of incubators and accelerators, investors and investment organizations and community partners (science clubs and student associations).

• As part of this 2021 edition, it is also planned to organize training sessions, Speed ​​Dating, open innovation opportunities and other measures allowing real support for the winners in each industry.

• A national call for projects will be launched “very soon” on the official website of the program for the attention of any project leader / startup wishing to take part in this program, according to sources. 

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