The International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and Seedstars selected five African startups among finalists of the Migration Challenge Startup Competition.
The IOE-Seedstars Startup Competition is targeted at the most promising human resources, fintech, civictech and edtech startups with solution-oriented products to improve migration systems that respond to labour market needs.
The finalists are:
1.) Mauritius-based Talenteum
TALENTEUM is a platform for remote working staff from Africa. It provides a disruptive solution to the international labor market. It offers skilled professionals who have difficulty finding a job in their home countries or who wish to earn more, to take control of their future by becoming independent and linked to Talenteum.
2.) South Africa’s Digemy
Digemy, an edtech startup, provides corporates with in-depth insights into the knowledge levels of employees, from course-level to the most granular level of every syllabus. Training material is delivered in bite-size chunks.
3.) South Africa’s Maxicash
MaxiCash is a virtual wallet which allows African expats globally to support their families and friends back home. Some of its key features are sending money, buying electronic vouchers, buying airtime vouchers, paying schools, hospitals, companies, as well as donating to churches and NGOs.
4.) Kenya’s M-Shule
M-Shule is the first adaptive, mobile learning management platform designed to improve performance for the 144 million primary school students across Sub-Saharan Africa. M-Shule’s tech-enabled services create and deliver personalized learning experiences for each child and empower schools with insights all through SMS and web.
5.) Rwanda’s BAG Innovation
A digital platform that combines AI and Gamification to revolutionize the future of career development. BAG is a Virtual Internship platform that complements the theoretical learning from University with market relevant experience.
A total of 73 applications from Latin American and African startups were received.
IOE Secretary-General, Roberto Suárez Santos, said: “The Migration Challenge Competition is the first initiative of its kind. Rewarding innovative solutions to the information divide between employers and migrants through skills and technology is the first step towards promoting well-managed migration as a positive force for change.”
The five African startups alongside other finalists, will pitch for the prize at the first-ever “Tech Garden” of the Twelfth Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) Summit in Quito, Ecuador on 20-24 January 2020.
The winner will be announced on 23 January 2020 during the closing plenary session.
The winning startup will take part in the Global Seedstars Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland to be held April 2020, and will benefit from 3-months acceleration scholarship for the Investment Readiness Program (IRP).
The runners-up will be awarded with 2 months acceleration scholarship for IRP.
