Call from East African Swiss ambassador to startups to pitch disruptive solutions

Ambassador and representative of Switzerland to the East African community Arthur Mattli has called on innovative Tanzanians to approach the Swiss embassy with tech solutions that will benefit the country and the region.

Mattli was speaking today (13 December) at the 2018 Seedstars Africa Summit conference in Dar es Salaam.

In his speech, Mattli invited Tanzanian innovators to think about how they can collaborate with the Swiss embassy and to explore whether their projects can be matched with the embassy’s ideas.

“Challenge us please, come to the embassy, present what you want to do. You have to convince us that you have impact and then I think we will be in business, and we have to listen to you and we will listen to you,” said Mattli.

“So this is a clear appeal to all of those living here in Tanzania to reach out to the Swiss embassy. We want to know what kind of disruptive development ideas you have for the future of this country and this region,” he added.

During his speech, Mattli also called on the audience to approach their respective governments with their concerns so as to enable them to formulate policies that are favourable to and supportive of startups.

“You have also to reach out to your parliamentarians, to your constituencies, and to make also a little bit more noise in the sense that you’re important to the  economy and to the development of any country you’re living in,” he advised.

In the run up to the summit, the 17 startups that qualified to attend the summit — along with three other Swiss startups — attended two consecutive days of bootcamps that included one on one investment meetings with investors and mentorship sessions with industry experts.

In addition, earlier today, summit attendants participated expert-led workshops that covered healthcare, job creation, public and private partnerships, civic technology and ecosystem building.

Disclosure: Ventureburn is a Seedstars media partner

Featured image: Ambassador and Representative of Switzerland to the East African Community Arthur Mattli (Seedstars via Twitter)