Ampion Venture Bus Africa to go big in emerging markets

StartupBus Africa last year saw a bus packed full of engineers, designers, media and creatives tour through the Southern part of the continent, from Harare, Zimbabwe to Cape Town, South Africa. Out of the 40 people who joined the trip, eight startups were born. This year, the bus is back under a new brand which will focus more on emerging markets — Ampion Venture Bus Africa, and has decided to go big!

The basic principle of StartupBus remains, it’s just on a grander scale. Between September and November, four buses will travel through fifteen African countries, covering North, East, West and South. Throughout the trip, teams are formed and products built. The troop of 160 expected buspreneurs is made up of 50% male, 50% female, 50% local, and 50% international.

Last year saw edtech startup Sterio.me, anti-corruption app Bribed and employment platform Workforce win the pitch competition.

This year, with a focus on healthcare, energy and education, 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. This means that there will be 12 chosen startups.

Reported by Techmoran, “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,” says Fabian Guhl, Managing Director of the Ampion which is a Berlin based not-for-profit.

Applications for Ampion Venture Bus Africa are now open. Take a look at the site for more information.

Furthermore, the new brand, Ampion, also has a global fellowship programme in the works. By collaborating with popular players like Afrilabs and VC4Africa, the programme will see global mentorship, incubation and office space for the best projects created during the journey.

“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,” says Tayo Akinyemi, Afrilabs’ director.

Update: The initial headline stated that StartupBus Africa has rebranded as Ampion. This, however, is not the case. Instead a new brand was created to focus on emerging markets.