Africa Rail calls on startups to apply for free exhibition space

Conference organiser Terrapinn is offering 50 startups with solutions in the rail and transport industry, free exhibition space valued at R25 000 each at this year’s edition of Africa Rail to be held next month in Johannesburg.

The conference, which will this year be held on 19 and 20 June at the Sandton Convention Centre, is the largest gathering of rail and government operators, government entities and contractors.

Over 6000 delegates are expected to attend the event which will this year feature a dedicated Startup Zone.

Africa Rail 2019 will feature a dedicated Startup Zone

Terrapinn networking manager Brian Mushongera told Ventureburn last Friday (17 May) that startups that are under four years old and that provide solutions relevant to the rail and transport industry stand to qualify for free exhibition space at the event.

Mushongera added that preference will be given to bootstrapped startups which are yet to raise external funding.

Startups that have raised external funding of less than R5-million will also be considered for the free exhibition space.

The offer is available to startups with the following solutions:

• Engineering and consulting
• Rolling stock and components
• Signalling, telecommunications and IT
• Enterprise and asset management systems
• Track and station infrastructure
• Ticketing systems
• Legal and financial services
• Tunnelling and construction
• Predictive analytics and machine-to-machine (M2M)
• Safety and security

Those selected to exhibit at Africa Rail 2019 will be provided with exhibition passes, 2m² x 1m² floor space, a complementary conference pass, marketing opportunity on Africa Rail’s website as well as a post event report and access to the conference’s networking app.

To apply for the expo space, startups must contact Mushongera and provide the following: their company name, the year the company was founded, whether the company has received any external funding or not and if so how much they raised and whether the startup is owned by a larger organisation or not.

Transport Africa Awards 2019

In addition, Africa Rail will also host the Transport Africa Awards.

Launched in 2008, the awards aim to identify and reward companies that have demonstrated an unparalleled ability to succeed and have continually set standards of excellence.

The awards are organised around six categories, namely The African Transport Innovation Award, Transport Leader in Skills Development, Transport Operator of the Year, Women in Transport Award, Premier Transport Project of the Year and Transport Startup of the Year.

Startups looking to participate in the Transport Startup of the Year award will be judged on the following criteria:

• Uniqueness and impact of their product or service
• Leadership in the ecosystem
• Business model and strategy
• Development over the last 12 months
• Customer growth, sales and funds raised
• Founders commitment and professionalism

Featured image: fantasylife via Pixabay