MEST Africa announces four regional winners that will pitch in $50k challenge

Seed fund and incubator MEST Africa has announced the four regional winners of its inaugural MEST Africa Challenge.

The pitch competition will see the winners — who hail from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa — pitch at the MEST Africa Summit which takes place in Cape Town on 20 June.

The four companies will pitch their solutions to over 150 investors and corporate executives from across Africa, Silicon Valley and Europe and stand to win up to $50 000 in equity investment.

The four MEST Africa Challenge regional winners are Cowtribe, Data Integrated, Accounteer, and swiftVee

In a press release, MEST MD Aaron Fu (pictured above) said the regional winners have all built solutions that solve real problems and have proven traction in their home markets.

“They’ve also shown they have the potential to be successful abroad. We’re excited to continue the conversation in Cape Town around how they can effectively scale, and how we can continue to support them as they grow,” Fu said.

Cowtribe (Ghana): Provides an on-demand and subscription USSD-based service that connects livestock farmers with veterinarians, and delivers animal vaccines and other livestock services to farmers.

The Tamale-based startup was co-founded in 2015 by CEO Awin Peter and COO Alima Bawah.

Data Integrated (Kenya): Founded in 2012 by CEO Mary Mwangi, this fintech company specialises in end-to-end enterprise payment solutions for small businesses.

Data Integrated team (Supplied)

Data Integrated’s solutions include payroll system Mishahara, transport management suite s-Transport, and a payment processing platform for restaurants and bars Mobitill.

Accounteer (Nigeria): Cloud accounting platform offering payroll management software tailored for African small businesses.

Accounteer was founded in 2015 by CEO Merijn Campsteyn and currently services over 8000 businesses across 68 different countries.

swiftVee (South Africa): Cape Town-based livestock and agricultural trading platform founded in 2016 by Russel Luck, Andrew Meyer and Alex Mode.

In March Google announced that swiftVee was one of 12 startups selected to join the first cohort of its Launchpad Accelerator.

swiftVee team at Mest Cape Town (MEST Africa via Medium)

Read more: Google’s Launchpad Accelerator Africa announces first cohort of 12 startups

Featured image: MEST Africa MD Aaron Fu  ( MEST Africa via Facebook)