Seedstars World, a global competition targeting start-ups in emerging markets, will host the second edition of the annual Seedstars Africa Summit in Kigali next month, organisers have said. The event connects African entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship ecosystems with the outside world and between each other.

"We have so far hosted preliminary competitions in 20 African countries this year, where we identified the most promising start-ups, as well as analysed the local ecosystems. So, the Seedstars World summit in Kigali will bring together the best and most promising entrepreneurs to network with ecosystem players, mentors, investors, corporates and other entrepreneurs across the continent,” Marcello Schermer, regional manager for Africa at Seedstars World, said in a statement. "After four years of hosting competitions across the world and across the African continent, we are more excited than ever about the potential for African entrepreneurs to build global businesses.”

"We also know that bringing start-ups, entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem players together will help increase connections across the continent and accelerate the growth of Africa-born global businesses. This is why we are running Seedstars Africa for the second year in a row,” he added.

The event is supported by Microsoft, Intel, the Ministry of ICT and Youth, kLab, the Private Sector Federation’s ICT Chamber, Africa 2.0 and Brussels Airlines.

The summit will feature prominent speakers, such as Hitendra Naik, the director for innovation at Intel Africa and the Middle East; Rwanda’s Youth and ICT Minister Jean Philbert Nsengimana; Clement Uwajeneza, the Rwanda Online chief executive; Djiba Diallo, the start-up engagement head at Microsoft 4Afrika, as well as Seedstars ambassadors and start-ups from over 15 African countries, according to the organisers

The event, scheduled for December 7-9 is expected to bring together more than 300 start-up founders, successful entrepreneurs, investors, decision makers and ecosystem leaders from across Africa and around the world to share insights, and explore investment and collaboration opportunities and discuss how African start-ups can scale beyond their home markets and become global businesses.

This year’s programme also gives entrepreneurs an opportunity to be selected for the Seedstars Growth programme, a seed investment that comes together with a four month acceleration programme for early stage start-ups.