AfriLabs on Wednesday announced its teaming up with prominent organizations including; GIZ Make IT as the lead partner, Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH), Digital Africa, AEDIB-NET, Unlock Aid, and Visa Foundation to host this year’s forthcoming AfriLabs Annual Gathering in Kigali, from October 11 – 13.
The primary focus of the event is to boost the growth of Africa’s digital economy through the power of the AfriLabs community which includes innovation hubs, policymakers, development organizations, corporations, academia, and other stakeholders from Africa’s technology and innovation ecosystem.
In a press statement, Ms. Anna Ekeledo, the Executive Director of AfriLabs, said: “The coming together of diverse stakeholders for the AfriLabs Annual Gathering will accelerate Africa’s digital economy and is a reflection of what we need to do as a continent to improve our situation.”
Ekeledo showed her excitement about the quality of the content at this year’s AfriLabs Annual Gathering and the beginning of more impactful interventions for the innovation ecosystem.
The event has six tracks: Investor, Climate Change & Adaptation, Creative & Technology Intersection, Policy & Data-Driven Africa, Gender Inclusion, and Hub Solutions & Sustainability. These explore funding gaps, sustainable climate action, cross-sector collaborations, policy-related challenges, gender diversity, and tech hub support for startups.
GIZ Make IT in Africa will host a panel discussion on “Open Innovation” in the Hubs sustainability track. Additionally, they will launch the Open Innovation Toolkit at a dedicated workshop — while Visa Foundation on the other hand will participate in a panel discussion on ‘Innovating Pathways to Bridging the Gender Gap’ under the gender inclusion track.
Visa Foundation is also dedicated to enhancing equitable and efficient access to capital across various stages of business growth, fostering inclusive economic growth, and championing gender-diverse and inclusive small businesses.
Digital Africa and AEDIB-NET will host a session on “Research and Development for Digital Transformation: Shared Insights from Africa and Diaspora” under the policy and data track.
Digital Africa is focused on promoting more inclusive and sustainable development by equipping Africa’s tech entrepreneurs with the capabilities to design and scale up groundbreaking innovations for the real economy. On the other hand, AEDIB-NET hopes to strengthen a common African-European digital innovation ecosystem by supporting local digital innovation and start-up ecosystems in Africa.
Unlock Aid will be hosting a round table meeting at the event.
Unlock Aid prides itself in being the world’s leading alliance of social innovators who are driving policy changes to achieve the UN’s sustainable development goals by 2030. In line with the same goal, they have partnered with AfriLabs to drive policy and bring innovators together to lead transformation and shift the narrative of the African innovation and technology ecosystem.
Africa’s Business Heroes through this partnership with AfriLabs will showcase their commitment to unlocking Africa’s entrepreneurial potential and contribute to the ambition of shaping Africa’s future into a fully digitized Africa by 2030.
The diversity of the 8th edition of the AfriLabs Annual Gathering reflects the progress made in recent years towards positive change across Africa’s innovation economy. The gathering is set to have immense potential and opportunity.
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