BY TOM JACKSON
Twelve African entrepreneurs have been selected for the latest Westerwelle Young Founders Programme, which offers outstanding young entrepreneurs from developing and emerging countries six months of business mentoring and the chance to participate in the Young Founder Conference in Berlin.
The Westerwelle Foundation for International Understanding supports collaboration between young entrepreneurs, executives and decision makers from around the world.
Its Young Founders Programme is a fully-funded six-month programme for exceptional entrepreneurs from developing and emerging economies.
Twenty-five entrepreneurs have been selected to take part in this year’s edition of the programme, with the cohort including 12 from Africa. Three of those are Nigerian: Damilola Emuze of ScholarX, Jide Ayegbusi of Edusko, and Luther Lawoyin of Pricepally.
Two Ugandan entrepreneurs have been chosen, namely Anatoli Kirigwajjo of Yunga Technologies, and Emmanuel Emodek of ChapChap Africa.
The rest of the African participants are Desmond Konney of Ghana’s Complete Farmer, Jacques Sibomana of South Africa’s Kuba, Julius Mbungo of Tanzania’s Toolboksi, Kiptoo Magutt of Kenya’s Twende Carpool, Dominique Uwase Alonga of Rwanda’s Imagine We, Bop Sandrino-Arndt of Cameroon’s Optimiz Africa, and Marita Walther of Namibia’s Ebikes4Africa.
Other participants hail from Pakistan, Chile, Brazil, Myanmar, India, Colombia, Argentina, Thailand, Singapore, and Lebanon.
The programme kicks-off with the Westerwelle Young Founders Conference in Berlin this month, which aims to connect young founders from developing and emerging economies with each other and the German startup scene, with selected entrepreneurs then offered access to mentoring, expert sessions, and the Young Founders alumni network.
