Deadline for DEMO Africa Extended To June 22

June 16th 2014

Press Release

DEMO Africa extends application deadline to June 22

In startup land, getting through the starting blocks usually takes double the time; molding, tweaking, and playing around with ideas before finally having a ready product. Cognizant of this "universal" truth, DEMO Africa is keeping the application window open for one more week from Sunday June 15 to Sunday June 22, 2014.

Harry Hare, executive producer, DEMO Africa, said the extension has been motivated by the need to allow start-ups who have been working hard to meet the application guidelines but had not managed to do so by the initial June 15 deadline.

“From experiences, there is always a last minute rush by start-ups to comply. By extending the deadline, we want to give more time for innovators to ensure that their efforts do not go to  not waste, thereby boosting their confidence which is what we are about,” said Hare.

The VC4Africa founder Ben White supported the move to extend the deadline. He observed that the standards set by the applicants are really high and explained, “It's always thrilling to see how hard entrepreneurs work on their applications and the jury has a tough job ahead of them. That said, many entrepreneurs have asked for more time to put their best foot forward. It's a great opportunity for entrepreneurs on the sidelines to still get their hat in the ring, but they are going to have to move fast”.

VC4Africa is hosting the application window on http://demoafrica2014.com.

This move comes even as curtains fall on DEMO Africa’s innovation tours 2014. The tours which have been concluded in Lagos, Nigeria at the iDEA hub, have seen the DEMO Africa team visiting various countries including Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ghana. This provided an opportunity for the team to meet Africa start-ups and coach on how best to apply for DEMO Africa 2014.

The applications will be looked through by an executive panel comprising experts in business and tech. The panel is tasked with the responsibility of shortlisting the best forty from the hundreds of applications submitted from across the region. The final forty will be based on the ability to link creativity, innovation, effectiveness and scalability. Names of the panel members will be released in the first week of July and Harry Hare assured continental representation in the selection panel.

The best forty start-ups will have a chance to launch their products to an ecosystem of VCs, investors, tech acquisition specialists, IT buyers and media from across the region and around the globe.

This history-making event is scheduled to take place between 22nd and 26th of September at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria. Delegate registration is already open and those wishing to attend can take advantage of the early bird registration here http://bit.ly/1iwGWQb

This year’s event is being organized in collaboration with the LIONS@FRICA partners (which include Microsoft, Nokia, US State Department, DEMO, USAID, African Development Bank, VC4Africa among others) and Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies.