Aliko Dangote to address African start-ups at DEMO Africa 2015

Aliko Dangote – the world’s wealthiest black man, is set to address a global audience at the 2015 edition of DEMO Africa on September 24-25, in Lagos, Nigeria – the chairman of the local organizing committee, Yele Okeremi, has confirmed.

DEMO Africa is one of the flagship initiatives of LIONS@frica and aims to connect African startups to the global ecosystem.

DEMO Africa is the place where the most innovative companies from African countries get a platform to launch their products and announce to Africa and the world what they have developed.

According to Okeremi, who is also the chief executive officer (CEO) of Precise Financial System (PFS), Dangote is expected to share his entrepreneurship and experience with 30 technology startups that have been selected to demonstrate how their products will positively impact the world. The event which is co-hosted by the Nigerian National Information Technology Development Agency.

DEMO Africa recently released a list of 30 technology start-ups from across Africa that will pitch at the 2015 edition of the event. Nigeria tops the list with 8 start-ups, while Kenya is second with 6 start-ups. South Africa is third with 3 start-ups while Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon, and Zimbabwe have 2 start-ups respectively. Uganda, Tanzania and newcomer, Ivory Coast, have one start-up each. The 30 start-ups were selected from a list of over 600 applicants with 4 earning direct nominations during the DEMO Africa pre-pitch events.

According to DEMO Africa’s executive producer, Harry Hare, globally, the DEMO experience has helped to introduce new products and services that have become popular brands in the business and consumer markets, which include Evernote, Salesforce, Cisco webex, Jawbone, Waze, and Tivo among others.