The World Bank Group is committed to supporting the growth of Africa’s digital economy through XL Africa, a business acceleration initiative that is providing a raft of benefits for the 20 most promising startups in sub-Saharan Africa.
These African digital entrepreneurs have an opportunity to be mentored by various global specialists, increase their visibility on the continent and receive access to corporate partners and investors.
These three key benefits of the program alone would address crucial issues faced by African startups on a daily basis, with lack of progress in terms of mentoring, marketing and access to funding often stalling or stifling African entrepreneurial growth in the digital sector.
The World Bank expects XL Africa to help 20 startups attract investments of $250,000 to $1.5 million from African investment firms, with the Scandinavian governments of Finland, Sweden and Norway helping to fund the World Bank’s business acceleration initiative to boost African startups.
Here are 10 of the 20 African startups which have been selected for the World Bank’s XL Africa accelerator.
Senegalese startup CoinAfrique is the first mobile peer to peer mobile marketplace for french speaking Africa. Providing the service via an app, the startup aims to reach 15 percent of the 100 million smartphone users in Francophone Africa by 2020.
Paycentre
Thanks to this Nigerian fintech startup, any grocery store or pharmacy can be converted into a location that offers financial access and services via mpos technology. This enables cash withdrawals, deposits, loans and card issuance, among other things.
Jamii
Jamii from Edgepoint Digital provides a micro-health insurance product for the informal sector, using modern tech to reduce insurance costs and provide affordable products for those earning less than $50 per month. The Tanzanian startup has received previous funding from The Gates Foundation and Barclays Africa.
Snapplify
Snapplify is an award-winning South African media and technology startup specializing in the retail and distribution of digital content such as eBooks and mobile apps from various publishers to educational institutions and users around Africa.
Lynk
Lynk Jobs provides a platform for people to find heavily vetted professionals working in various industries, ensuring that quality service providers can be found for every necessary task. The Kenyan startup now enables around 600 jobs per month across many industries.
Timbuktu
South African startup Timbuktu is an interactive tourism platform that gives travellers the ability to design and customize their own trip to Africa from a selection of hundreds of handpicked lodges and curated itineraries. A team of experts on the ground in Africa then books all arrangements to save time and money for the traveler.
Prepclass
Prepclass is a Nigerian e-learning platform that uses the latest web technologies to ensure that relevant local content such as past test questions, class notes; interactive audio and videos are available to learners at various school and college levels on demand via digital devices.
Tizeti
Tizeti Network Limited provides unlimited internet solutions to under-served areas such as rural areas via WiFi. The Nigerian startup also deploys Wifi internet for multi-tenant buildings in Lagos using solar powered base stations.
Rensource
Nigerian startup Rensource is a distributed energy company that provides innovative solar solutions and financing to consumers and small businesses in Nigeria. The company addresses the lack of sufficient electricity supply in the country, owning and maintaining the solar systems for a monthly subscription fee.
Sendy
Sendy is a startup from Kenya which aims to connect small businesses with local drivers, ensuring that delivery and logistics in general is simplified and made more transparent in Africa. By enabling more affordable and efficient package delivery, the startup is aware that people, businesses and communities are positively affected.