Global Entrepreneurship Network announces top 10 finalists

The Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), an entrepreneurial platform, aims to find the most innovative and promising startups around the world.

GEN has announced the finalists for their Startup Open during their Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), which is celebrated by roughly 10-million people in 165 countries, the network claims.

The Startup Open gives entrepreneurs a virtual platform to pitch their business as well as receive feedback on their offerings. The Startup Open will also give entrepreneurs a platform to compete for mentoring opportunities to help further their goals.

President of GEN, Jonathan Ortmans commented in a press release, saying, “These individuals and cofounder teams are innovators on the verge of becoming industry disruptors — you see their promise and that they are ready to take their ventures to the next level.”

“This group of entrepreneurs, and others like them, are driving economic growth and social value in all economies and cultures of the world,” he continued.

The winner of the Startup Open will go on to showcase their startup at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in March 2017 in Johannesburg. Here they will address fellow entrepreneurs and leaders from over 160 countries.

GEN aims to expand the number of ordinary citizens entering the entrepreneurial field through their many programmes and initiatives

This year’s finalists were selected from more than 100 countries and 1000 founders. Two out of the top ten finalists competing are from the African continent, namely Egypt and Kenya.

Marini Naturals, one of the finalists, is a Kenyan based startup specialising in hair care, specifically for women with natural African hair. They’re one of the first companies in their market to allow customers to purchase products through the use of mobile phone USSD technology.

QEYE, an Egyptian based startup is another one of the African finalists. This startup makes use of industrial cameras for production quality improvements in various industries, such as textiles, paper, plastic and packaging.

The other eight competing finalists include:

• BrighTap by Bwareit, Israel
• meetHere, United States
• OneTest Diagnostics, United Kingdom
• Freshy, Malta
• OpenWater, India
• Boltt Sports Technologies, India
• Karz, Israel
• Cookies and Cookies, Colombia

These startups will all receive membership to the GEN Starters Club, a large community of like-minded founders, as well as receive access to GEN mentors and exposure at their curated networking opportunities.

Featured image: Frank Schulenburg via Flickr