Aboyeji Iyinoluwa, the famous co-founder of Andela and Flutterwave, Chris Folayan, the founder and CEO of Mall4Africa & EchoVC’s Eghosa Omoigui are among eight prominent business leaders selected to mentor high-potential startups from the UAE and Africa under the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Global Business Forum (GBF) Mentorship Programme.
The three are part of the four African-based mentors who are joining their UAE counterparts to foster cross-border cooperation between the two startup communities and help participants expand their global presence.
The mentors will offer their wealth of expertise in a wide range of fields, including, technology, education, retail, construction and finance as all of them have a proven track record in building businesses and driving the growth of startups companies.
The UAE-based mentors will team up with the selected African startups and guide them over a three-month period, while the Africa-based mentors will do the same for the UAE startups at the 5th Global Business Forum on Africa in Dubai On November 18th-19th 2019.
The event is expected to boost the startups’ exposure within UAE and African markets and business communities.
Aboyeji Iyinoluwa is the Managing Partner at Street Capital while Chris Folayan is the Founder and CEO of Mall for Africa. Eghosa Omoigui is the founder and managing Partner of EchoVC and Jonathan Berman is the CEO of J.E. Berman Associates.
They will be joined by Nassib Boueri, CEO of Wunderman MENA; Chris Thomas, CO-CEO and Co-founder of Eureeca; Cynthia Corby, the Middle East Construction Industry Leader for Deloitte and Nader Amiri, Founder and CEO of el Grocer.
The GBF Mentorship Programme is an extension of Dubai Chamber’s Global Business Forum on Africa platform and event series. Prior to the selection of the participating mentors and startups, the first-ever Chamberthon event was held in Kigali, Rwanda, earlier this year which was joined by 20 UAE and African startups that collaborated to develop the foundation and structure of the mentorship programme.
The 10 startups-five from Africa and five from the UAE include FarmGate Africa, a startup connecting international buyers to farmers; Quip.link, a construction marketplace; Complete Farmer, a crowd-farming platform; Engineering Hub Ltd, a mobile and banking integration developer; and RideSafe, a real-time health solutions startup.
Dubai’s cohort include Evolvin Women, a startup helping unemployed women from developing countries; ORENDA+Bloom, a gender balance consultancy; Tuitify, a startup using AI and virtual reality to improve employee training and productivity; Designhubz, a SaaS platform that enables retailers and brands to sell their products in 3D; and Pixel House, a production agency offering video production, photography and branding solutions. startups, members of Dubai Startup Hub
Prior to their selection, the 10 shortlisted startups participated in the first-ever Chamberthon which took place in Kigali, Rwanda earlier this year. During the Chamberthon, 20 UAE and African startups worked together to develop the structure and criteria of the GBF Mentorship Programme.
“Startups are playing an active role in fostering innovation as they leverage and test out cutting-edge technologies that improve the way we live and work. The GBF Mentorship Programme provides an ideal platform for high-potential startups to develop their business concepts, benefit from collaboration, access new growth opportunities through the Global Business Forum on Africa platform, and build valuable partnerships,” said H.E. Hamad Buamim, President & CEO of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
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