Call for Applications: PIVOT East 2016, Deadline: 8 September 2016

Applications are open for the PIVOT East 2016 that aims to catalyze the growth of startups, so as to amplify and consolidate the gains of East Africa’s digital entrepreneurship ecosystem.  The key objective for this year’s event is “to facilitate discovery of the next wave of high potential startups in the region”.

PIVOT East is Africa’s biggest startups competition and conference held annually since 2011. The competition comprises of a series of activities that will culminate in the finalist’s conference which will be held on 15th November 2016. The conference is organized by m:lab East Africa an initiative of the iHub.

Applicants are encouraged to start building and curating their startup profiles early as they might need to research or source some of the information required widely. Applicants are also required to upload a short (max 5 mins) video of the founders expressing the mission and strength of their startups on their VC4Africa profile.

Categories

• Finance
• Enterprise
• Entertainment
• Utilities and Society
• Governance

Each category will feature five finalists who will pitch to an audience of Investors, Development Partners, Government Representatives, Telecom Operators and other key stakeholders from East Africa. The 25 finalists will receive training and coaching on how to pitch to investors.

Eligibility Criteria

• Application is open to all residents of the Eastern African countries: Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, South Sudan, DRC, Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda. Tech startups from the named countries are eligible to participate.
• Participating startups must be domiciled in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, Burundi, Somalia or DR Congo
• Entries to the competition will be considered to be startups as per the universal definition of a “startup”* or a startup company
• Participating startups must indicate details of at least two members of their team in their application profile
• Companies that reached final 25 lists of PIVOT 2011, PIVOT 2012, PIVOT 2013, PIVOT 2014, and PIVOT 2015 may not compete with products/services previously submitted for the competition; the judging panel will have discretion to disqualify entries in breach of this requirement.
• Competitors selected to the final 25 list must have set up a legal entity (business name, limited company etc) for their business by 8th September 2016. Competitors with legal entities already set up will have an added advantage at all judging stages.

How to Apply

Applicants can apply via the given website.

Eligible Countries: Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, South Sudan, Sudan, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda.

For more information, please visit PIVOT East 2016.