SLS Energy, a Rwanda startup focusing on recycling lead-cell batteries is among the top 10 African startup companies selected to enter a 7-month equity-free mentorship program by tech giants Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
A Rwanda startup focusing on recycling lead-cell batteries is among the top 10 African startup companies selected to enter a 7-month equity-free mentorship program by tech giants Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., last week on May 4 announced the10 selected startups to participate in the inaugural Qualcomm ‘Make in Africa’ startup mentorship program, as part of the Qualcomm Africa Innovation Platform announced in December 2022.
SLS Energy, a Rwandan startup which came up with innovative solutions to address the battery waste and power supply quality problems, will join nine other startups from across the continent in the Qualcomm continental incubation program
These startups are developing innovative products in clean energy, agricultural technology, computing for education, geospatial predictive analysis, medical technologies, and innovations utilizing electric vehicles. Several startups also feature women in prominent leadership roles.
The startups, based in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, and Rwanda, were selected from a pool of 550+ applicants from 34 African countries. They were carefully selected by a global jury based on a variety of qualifications including technical capabilities, business factors, and potential for innovation and intellectual property generation.
The Qualcomm Make In Africa startups will receive equity-free mentorship in business planning, engineering, intellectual property protection, and the application of advanced connectivity, sensing, AI/ML and other processing technologies for innovative end-to-end systems solutions.
Qualcomm is pioneering the “Make in Africa” initiative.
The program is the first of its kind in Africa and is designed to add to the continued growth of the continent’s technology startup ecosystem.
Other shortlisted companies and their technology solutions include; Ecorich Solutions engaged in patented organic composting in Kenya, Fixbot, a startup from Nigeria involved in vehicle diagnostics and inspection via OBD dongle, Karaa from Uganda, in e-Bike tracking, charging, retrofit, and rentals, as well as Maotronics Systems Limited, an IOT-enabled precision agriculture startup from Nigeria.
Others include Microfuse, also from Uganda, engaged in affordable plugin computers for the education sector, Neural Labs Africa Ltd, from Kenya and Senegal, whose innovations focus on deep learning and computer vision for healthcare diagnosis in the respective countries.
To more Nigerian startups, OneTouch Diagnostics, a diabetes patch and monitoring system, and QuadLoop, which is leveraging e-waste for solar e-Lanterns and battery storage, made it to the top 10 selected startups, along with SolarTaxi, an electric vehicle (EV) taxi and fleet management system built in Ghana.
Announced in December 2022, Qualcomm Make in Africa will provide 1:1 mentorship for the shortlisted companies with Qualcomm leaders on a regular cadence to guide startups to product realization, as well as provide masterclasses on product management, pitch clinic, IPR, and hardware architecture.
The program will culminate in a finale demo day in December 2023, connecting startups with various industry leaders, venture capitalists, investors, and other accelerators.
Sudeepto Roy, Vice President, Engineering, Qualcomm Incorporated
“I’d like to applaud and congratulate these 10 startups for their innovative solutions,” said Sudeepto Roy, Vice President, Engineering, Qualcomm Incorporated. “I am beyond excited to hear about their respective problem domains and innovative solutions,”
“They have applied their talents and ingenuity to address Africa’s present-day needs in areas of reliable access to clean energy, precision agriculture to conserve water and other resources, adaptations of electric transportation for many last-mile needs, using AI and other innovations for accelerating disease pathology and treatment, and addressing energy efficient, affordable computing for the education market,” Roy said.
He pointed that over the next few months, they will mentor them in areas of business development, technology applications and intellectual property law, adding that they are honored to be able to participate in the entrepreneurial journey of the startups and their future impact in Africa.
Elizabeth Migwalla, Vice President and Head of Government Affairs (Middle East and Africa), Qualcomm International, Inc., said that the Qualcomm “Make in Africa” will drive the innovation agenda on the continent and create new prospects for up and coming entrepreneurs.
Elizabeth Migwalla, Vice President and Head of Government Affairs (Middle East and Africa), Qualcomm International, Inc.,says Africa’s startup scene is bubbling with opportunity and promise.
“As part of our new Africa Innovation Platform, the Qualcomm Make in Africa mentorship program is one of many initiatives we are working on in close collaboration with government and industry stakeholders in Africa, to help position African entrepreneurs and researchers to service markets throughout the continent and realize their global ambitions,”
“We believe that startups based in Africa are best placed to identify uniquely African problems that can be solved through end-to-end systems solutions and new business models. We congratulate the shortlisted companies and look forward to a fruitful collaboration for innovation in the coming months,” ” said Migwalla.
Qualcomm International, Inc., is a multinational company incorporated in the U.S, which invents breakthrough technologies that transform how the world connects, computes and communicates, with the objective of enabling a world where everyone and everything can be intelligently connected.
They seek to advance connectivity, high-performance, low-power compute, on-device intelligence and more – to the next generation of connected smart devices across industries.
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of the engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of the products and services businesses, including the QCT semiconductor business.
