Dial-A-Skill In Next Round Of Seedstars Comp
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday December 21, 2020 14:28
This is an international contest that scouts for the most promising early-stage start-ups and build the largest entrepreneurial community in emerging markets.
The local HR tech startup is a labour-to-market connectivity platform that provides on demand labour services.
As a local winner, Dial-a-skill is set to compete alongside the other 94 local winners in the Africa region where only one will emerge as the regional winner moving on to the Grand Finale.
The next phase of the competition takes the local winners to the regional stage. This stage of the competition will include a one-month long Investment Readiness Programme, modernised and personalised programme helping startups get investment ready.
It will consist of action-driven webinars on key business metrics; online office hours, where startups can discuss challenges they are facing; domain groups and one on one mentoring sessions; investor meetings for potential funding opportunities; and peer-to-peer learning and networking sessions.
From the regionals, 10 startups will receive $50,000 (about P500,000) in growth programme investment as well as the chance to compete at the Grand Finale for a shot at the Global Winner prize of $500,000 (about P5 million) in equity investment.
Lead of the Seedstars World Competition 2020, Eugenia Shevchenko said from the Africa region, 25 startups are set to compete for a spot at the Global Finale, which will be announced in March 2021.
“During this unusual year for everyone, I am proud to say that we managed to identify the most promising startups in 94 emerging markets,” Shevchenko said.
“The online format of the competition allowed us to dream and go bigger as we reached a larger audience and invited more startups from all the cities of each country to apply.”
Seedstars is a Swiss-based private company which seeks to impact people’s lives in emerging markets. The company annually holds the Seedstars World Competition to continuously scout for the most promising startups around the Asia, Africa, CEE, MENA, and LATAM regions.
This year, 94 ecosystems were included in the online open call for applications. From there, 1,200 startups participated in the Online Seedstars Academy, a training programme for entrepreneurs to accelerate their growth and receive mentorship from industry experts around the world.
Seedstars Africa regional manager, Lorraine Davis said it has been inspiring seeing entrepreneurs from across the region soldier on through the pandemic and continue to work hard on their solutions.
“We have met incredible entrepreneurs and are excited to see them competing at the regional stage for a chance to be at the Seedstars Grande Finale in 2021,” Davis said. “We wish all the local winners the best of luck for the regional stage competition.”
In 2013, Seedstars started as Seedstars World, an initiative created by founding partners Pierre-Alain Masson and Alisée de Tonnac.
They equipped with a backpack and passion to change the world, set on a world tour across 20 entrepreneurial ecosystems to scout for the most promising early-stage startups and build the largest entrepreneurial community in emerging markets.