ADF launches £40 000 African Drone Business Challenge

The African Drone Forum (ADF) yesterday announced the launch of the first African Drone Business Challenge, with a cash prize of £40 000 for the winner of the best drone application.

Participants selected will be able to exhibit and pitch their business plans during the African Drone Forum Symposium & Expo, which will take place at the Kigali Convention Centre from 5 to 7 February, 2020 and run concurrently with the Africa Tech Summit at the same venue, where 1000 delegates are expected to attend.

The ADF comprises a symposium, expo and the Lake Kivu Flying Competitions (see this story).

The deadline for business plan submission for the African Drone Business Challenge is 9 December

In a statement yesterday the ADF said the business challenge aims to encourage African entrepreneurs to envision new opportunities that may emerge as a result of both the increasing rural connectivity in Africa and new systems of delivery, digital fabrication, and artificial intelligence (AI) for navigation and image analysis.

“Tech is there, but use cases beyond medical product delivery are the missing piece,” said Jean-Christophe Zufferey, co-founder of senseFly. “We should spend more time analysing existing supply chains to see where and how drones make sense.”

The deadline for business plan submissions is Monday, 9 December.

Finalists will receive notification in early January 2020 if they are selected to participate in the final pitch event at the ADF.

Ten finalists will be invited to attend ADF and will receive pitch training, exhibition space, mentoring, and the opportunity to pitch their business ideas live to a crowd of industry leaders, investors and government officials.

The combined ADF and Africa Tech Summit will offer networking potential with over 1000 participating digital leaders, tech corporates, technology regulators, banks, mobile network operators, and startups from across Africa.

Requirements

To submit a business plan, you must be a citizen of an African country or an African in diaspora. Business concepts would need to be implementable in Africa.

Those eligible enter include individual everyone from individual entrepreneurs or an early-stage startup to an innovation team within a small business, corporation, or government office that focuses on integrating new drone services or applications into their business models.

Entrants do not need to be drone companies but should focus on concepts and customers for new business opportunities enabled by drone technologies.

Significant consideration will be given to proposals that demonstrate both economic and social value to their communities.

*Correction: The African Drone Forum February 5-7, 2020 will be running concurrently with the Africa Tech Summit (which will run from 4 to 6 February 2020) — rather than as part of the Africa Tech Summit. Both will be held at the Kigali Conference Centre in Rwanda 2020. We regret the error.

Read more: Rwanda to host Africa Drone Forum and Flying Competitions