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Ampion Venture Bus Africa Goes Live, Targets Emerging Markets

Ampion Venture Bus Africa Goes Live, Targets Emerging Markets

After rebranding to Ampion Venture Bus Africa, The StartupBus, which last year took a bus full of engineers, designers, media and creatives on a tour through the Southern part of the continent, has opened another round of applications for entrepreneurs who would like to join tour this year and will involve more countries in east, west, north and south of Africa.

Last year the bus took 40 people — 30 entrepreneurs with a strong proven record and 10 mentors — from Harare, Zimbabwe to Cape Town, South Africa. Out of this tour eight startups were born and no the organizers of the program want to take it big by targeting the entire emerging markets.

“Our goal is to reach even more entrepreneurial talent across the continent and empower young people determined to pursue world-changing ideas, using the power of digital” said Fabian Guhl, Managing Director of the Berlin and Harare based not-for-profit initiative.

This year, between September and November, four buses carrying at least 160 busprenuers, made up of 50 percent male, 50 percent female, 50 percent local, and 50 percent international, will travel through fifteen African countries, covering North, East, West and South.

The same principles used in the last year’s tour will be followed where teams will be formed and work together to build products.  Last year saw edtech startup Sterio.me, anti-corruption app Bribed and employment platform Workforce win the pitch competition.

The focus this year will be on healthcare, energy and education, and the top three startups in each bus will get the chance to be incubated for free by leading African startup incubators during a period from 6 to 12 months.

“AMPION Africa provides not only the opportunity for driven entrepreneurs to connect with each other and kick off new ideas. It also brings together the different players in the African and international entrepreneurship scene on a broader level” Tayo Akinyemi, Afrilabs’ director, said in a statement.