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.

Instant Property is a new commercial real estate platform, transforming the way that the industry engages with properties, tenants and brokers. Using innovative technology and data analysis, the platform provides a seamless and stress-free solution to the challenges around sourcing, renting and managing commercial property.

“Instant Property has been tailored to suit the specific requirements of each type of user – landlord, tenant and broker,” says Instant Property Director, Wayne Berger. “It is the first solution of its kind in South Africa with advanced features and capabilities and a broad portfolio of properties that span the country.”  The platform grants landlords free access to list vacancies and promote them to an impressive network of specialist brokers and tenants. From November 2017, landlords will also be able to list properties for sale or auction and buy properties online.

“It’s a fast and easy system to use and it is ideal for quick leads on commercial and industrial properties,” says Joshua Pelkowitz, Executive, WH Properties. Tenants can use the seamless search function to locate and compare more than eight million metres squared of business space, and get in touch with specialist brokers who can escort them to the property and provide them with expert support.

Tenants have plenty of search options without the stress or the price tag, and landlords find tenants who fit their requirements so they can earn back on their investments. For the broker, Instant Property gives them access to a branded brokerage tenant management system and vacancy mailing solution which allows them to service tenants in seconds.

"The vacancy mailing system has totally transformed the speed at which I search for property stock and allows me more time to engage with my clients to secure the best property solution for them. After over a decade in the commercial industry, Instant Property is a breath of fresh air and game changer like no other,” says Bonolo Gueye, Maikae Consulting. The system has been designed to provide the capabilities of a national brokerage in an easily accessible and manageable online space. It has also been broken down across commercial and industrial brokerages and sales brokers to allow for richer functionality and support. Listed property fund or Commercial and Industrial brokerages can white-label and customise services that extend from websites and native mobile phone applications to sale and leasing management.

“Our property-centric technology transforms how real estate professionals do business,” says Berger. “Property funds gain access to data and meaningful reports that help them to improve customer experiences, identify trends and make industry moves ahead of competitors. Whether sales, commercial and industrial or leasing based, you want access to people, management tools and support, and that is what Instant Property does.” The Instant Property platform has been designed to boost performance and customer engagement for landlords, brokers and property funds, providing access to a network of potential tenants and cutting back on time wasters and unnecessary costs. It is easy to use and has been optimised for mobile, allowing users to stay connected 24/7.

“We have created a free solution that makes commercial and industrial space easily accessible to tenants and easily manageable for brokers and landlords,” concludes Berger. “Leading organisations have been working with Instant Property since our inception, and they have seen measurable results and benefited from our big data reporting capabilities. We are continuing to add features and functionalities to the site to support our mantra – commercial real-estate made easy.”