Airbus and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) have announced the top 10 African tech start-ups that will take part in the latest Airbus Bizlab #Africa4Future accelerator programme. They were selected after an open public pitch event in front of experts, potential investors, the media and other stakeholders in Kenya’s capital city.

#Africa4Future is a joint business accelerator initiative of Airbus and GIZ’s Make-IT in Africa initiative together with the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), a nonprofit seed fund and pan-African organisation that brings together startups, entrepreneurs and the tech community, and Innocircle, the South African-based innovation consultancy.

The top 10 start-ups were selected from 314 entries representing 19 African countries that were received when the challenge was opened last October. These were assessed by a panel of Airbus and other independent experts.

The programme aims to encourage and support entrepreneurship in Africa. The continent’s young and increasingly techno-savvy population is likely to be the driving force behind Africa’s socio-economic development. The competition identifies Africa’s own pool of talented entrepreneurs using innovative aerospace based solutions to tackle the continent’s most pressing challenges such as transportation, agriculture and healthcare.

As a global aerospace accelerator, Airbus BizLab is ideally suited to help African startups transform innovative ideas into viable and valuable businesses. In doing so, it increases the aerospace industry’s engagement with hardware and software innovators and entrepreneurs in Africa while helping to nurture the establishment of competitive entrepreneurial ecosystems on the continent.

The Nairobi event kicks off an intensive 6-month business incubation and accelerator programme involving technical, commercial and mentorship activities in France, Germany and South Africa. This includes workshops and coaching sessions with Airbus experts, GIZ’s Make-IT in Africa, MEST and Innocircle coaches.

The programme will culminate with Demo Day events at the biennial Paris International Airshow and a special event in Germany from 19-26 June, when finalists will launch their products, define their collaboration with Airbus and announce their investment commitments in front of representatives from across the aerospace industry.

Finalists:

1. Astral Aerial (Kenya) – using drones for humanitarian cargo transport, surveillance and emergency response.

2. Cote d’Ivoire drone (Ivory Coast) – locally-manufactured drones for various applications.

3. Elemental Numerics (South Africa) – applies computational fluid dynamics techniques to the design of machines and components, ranging from aircraft to heart valves.

4. Lentera Limited (Kenya) – applying remote sensors to monitor and transmit environmental data to enable more efficient and smarter farming.

5. Maisha ICT Tech PLC (Ethiopia) – deploying locally built drones for delivering medicines, blood and healthcare items to remote and rural areas.

6. MamaBird (Malawi) – provides a platform to help Governments, NGOs and other organisations deliver vital life-saving supplies to remote communities.

7. Map Action (Mali) – a solution offering real-time online urban mapping to identify problems affecting water supplies, hygiene and sanitation.

8. MobiTech Water Solutions (Kenya) – an online real-time water monitoring solution that allows businesses, homes and water-service providers to manage their available water using an app-based dashboard and instant messaging.

9. Track Your Build (Nigeria) – a novel infrastructure management tool for construction and operations.

10. WiPo Wireless Power (South Africa) – offers reliable and convenient wireless power chargers for businesses, conference centres, airports, restaurants and other venues for the charging of mobile devices, laptops and drones.

RS builds on global agreement with expansion of more than 500 lines of Ohmite brand resistors Johannesburg, South Africa, 23 May, 2017

RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the global distributor for engineers, is building on its global agreement with Ohmite Manufacturing with a rapid portfolio expansion of Ohmite brand high-quality resistors.  The agreement also covers the ARCOL brand, which RS has been distributing for more than three decades prior to and since its acquisition by Ohmite Manufacturing in 2015.

The Ohmite and ARCOL branded portfolio includes resistive products that focus on high-voltage, high-current and high-energy applications that suit a variety of industrial market sectors including heavy industry, medical, military and aerospace. The new portfolio augmentation includes more than 500 lines of Ohmite products that deliver multiple options to design engineers. Device types include ceramic composite ‘pulseaters’, metal-element current sense, wirewound rheostats, and Slim Mox precision thick-film type devices. In total, more than 4,500 Ohmite and ARCOL products are now stocked and available to order online from RS.

The expansion emphasises its broader support for resistor technologies such as axial wire element, vitreous enamel, silicone ceramic axial wirewound, current sense, and anti-surge, offering customers fast access to a broad range of technologies and resistance values for high-power requirements. “RS has furthered its relationship with Ohmite Manufacturing to provide customers with technical excellence and access to market-leading products for use across many sectors, including electronics, automotive, industrial, transport, and computing and communications,” said Eric Smith, Global Head of IP&E at RS. This range expansion represents a key milestone in our relationship with RS, which offers world-class e-commerce and logistical capabilities, enabling us to reach a wider base of customers who require high-quality electronic components,” said Greg Pace, President of Ohmite Manufacturing.

About RS Components
RS Components is the market leader in the high service level distribution of electrical, electronic, mechanical, tools and industrial products. Operating in 26 countries whilst serving a further 100 through third-party distributors, RS serves every sector of industry in the procurement of their products relating to maintenance, repair, operations, low volume production, research and development.

With over 500 000 products across 2500 leading brands, the company is committed to ensuring that their 1,5 million customers have fast access to a broad, as well as deep range, of products and technologies, all under one roof. RS’s customers, whether ordering single or multiple items, experience a quick, easy, secure, painless and cost effective process.  The RS catalogue, available at za.rs-online.com, offers full colour pictures with extensive clear product specifications.  Free access to thousands of datasheets ensures the correct product choice.  Order placement is easily facilitated through za.rs-online.com, the call centre, e-mail, fax and trade counter.  Locally held stock is delivered to customers within 24 hours, and products held internationally, within four to six working days.

It is proven that departments traditionally spend 80% of their time sourcing products that account for only 20% of their total procurement spend. RS is focussed on reducing the customers “total cost of product ownership” by reducing the need to make multiple calls to various companies to source products, reducing supplier related administration and allowing for the amalgamation as well as consolidation of supplier bases.  Through this process, procurement efficiency is improved and time is freed up to concentrate on the more important business decisions.  For more information, please visit the website at za.rs-online.com

Press Office
Le-andra OlivierPR and Communication Specialist RS Components South Africa This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.+27 11 691 9345

Further information is available via these links:Twitter: @RSNewsSA; @RSElectronics; designsparkRSFacebook: facebook.com/RSSouthAfrica RS Components on LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/company/rscoms

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