Local Information and Communication Technology (ICT) entrepreneurs, developers will in October have an opportunity to network with region’s best ICT brains when the country hosts the the AMPION Venture Bus East Africa high-engagement conference in Kigali.

The conference will mark the climax of the inaugural AMPION ICT bus tour through the East African Community that starts from Dar es Salaam on October 11. The meeting, which is the highlight of the tour, where the entrepreneurs will pitch in front of investors, is planned for October 19, Douglas Ogeto, the acting country manager of the project, said. The venture is expected catalyse entrepreneurial potential in the regional bloc.

Meanwhile, Ogeto has urged ICT innovators and entrepreneurs interested in the tour to apply through the initiative’s website http://www.ampion.org/#!apply-for-venture-bus/c1fvc.

"The main requirement is anyone who is entrepreneurial and is passionate about collaborating on new ideas. We will be having equal representation of male and female. Females are highly encouraged to apply,” Ogeto said.

For the tour, participants will gather in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from where they will begin the competition and each will pitch their ideas on the bus and form groups to build around the best concepts. The five-day trip will accommodate 200 entrepreneurs and ICT enthusiasts. 

Local ICT enthusiasts say the initiative presents them a chance to network with entrepreneurs and people involved in the industry in the region, as well as learn new approaches to ICT solutions.

Mark Habineza, a fresh graduate from University of Rwanda, College of Science and Technology, hopes to network with other developers from the region, adding the opportunity presents them an avenue to increase market reach for locally-developed solutions.

This year, the bus journey will focus on solutions to Africa’s challenges in healthcare, energy and education.

The top three startups in each of the four buses will get the chance to be incubated for free by leading African startup incubators for a period of up to 12 months.

The inaugural bus journey last year went through Zimbabwe and South Africa.