Sponsor

demola.net

Demola Global helps businesses and organisations to explore weak signals and global driving forces to build future-proof strategies.

They build global teams of the most talented and motivated university students and combine the insights from project chains with their expert know-how to create visions of the future and competitive advantages for the participants and their partner organisations. By building a bridge between the decision-makers of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, Demola Global drives improved and more democratised ability to react to changes as a society.

Since 2008, they have worked with more than 1,500 corporates, growth companies, and public organisations. They also work with governments and international institutions to make future work a permanent way of thinking.

Sponsor and Knowledge Partner

aws.amazon.com/activate

AWS Activate collaborates with BOOST UP by providing all the finalists with access to their services and individual mentoring. AWS Activate offers startups free AWS credits, tools, resources, and more allow them to quickly get started on AWS and grow their business. With AWS, startups can lower costs, become more agile, and innovate faster.

Partner

www.thinkafrica.fi

Think Africa is a non-profit organisation with a mission of empowering the African diaspora and enhancing collaboration between Finland and African countries. Through their strong and diverse network of members, they build bridges to benefit both Finland and the African diaspora.

Sponsor

www.slush.org

Slush is a student-driven, not-for-profit movement that was founded to build a culture of entrepreneurship in Finland. Over the years, it has grown to become the world’s leading startup event as well as a movement that spans all corners of the globe. Throughout this, Slush’s mission has remained in place: to create and help entrepreneurs who change the world.

This year, faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, Slush has taken its mission online, building a close-knit community for startups, investors, and ecosystem-builders across the globe called Node by Slush. In addition, Slush has doubled down on producing value-adding content and research across its online platforms to inform and inspire startups during these testing times.

Knowledge Partner

www.siili.com

Siili is a unique combination of a digital agency and a technology powerhouse. They believe in human-centricity in everything they deliver.

They transform visions into stand-out digital strategies, data into clear insights, and ideas into innovations that matter. This makes Siili the go-to partner when seeking growth, efficiency, and competitive advantage through digital transformation.

Siili is known as a community of brilliant yet easy-to-approach, honest, and hardworking professionals.

They help you find what’s essential. Then they build it.

MAKE IT REAL.

Knowledge Partner

www.pitchingforlife.com

Walid is a pitching coach, startup mentor, lecturer, the author of the ebook Pitching For Life (PFL), and the creator of the 8-Second Pitch. He has coached thousands of startup founders, executives, students, workers, managers, and other people from different industries. His background is in hospitality and entrepreneurship, and his passion is in learning. 

He starts with boosting people’s confidence – the mindset comes first. Skills and performance can only be developed once one's self-belief and determination are present. Walid loves helping people to get closer to their dreams and goals in life via pitching and entrepreneurial learning.

Knowledge Partner

startupbootcamp.org

Zachariah (Zach) George is the co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Startupbootcamp Africa, the leading multi-corporate-backed venture accelerator programme in Africa. In 2013, he founded Cactus Advisors – a specialist corporate finance advisory firm and micro VC fund that has advised and invested in over 40 of Africa’s top tech ventures. Zach currently serves as a Principal at Nedbank Venture Capital & Alternative Investments.

Zach was formerly the head of Africa Investments for U-Start, the largest network of private multi-family offices in Europe. Prior to moving to South Africa, he was an investment banker on Wall Street, covering M&A, corporate finance strategy, and risk management at Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital.

Knowledge Partner

viridian.africa

Viridian is a dynamic and experienced organisation that designs and delivers early-stage entrepreneur and investor programmes, research, and strategy. They care deeply about achieving impact and creating thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems with their partners, and want to see more high-impact entrepreneurs and angel investors across the continent building innovative solutions and growing shared prosperity.

Knowledge Partner

futurice.com

Futurice is an international digital engineering and innovation company that helps organisations transform their business by bringing together complex software engineering and beautiful human-centred design. They unleash a culture of innovation and create digital products and services that make companies and societies future capable. They believe technology amplifies human potential.

Futurice has over 500 employees, with offices in Berlin, Helsinki, London, Munich, Oslo, Stockholm, Stuttgart, and Tampere.

Knowledge Partner

worldofinsights.co

World of Insights creates game-based learning solutions for corporate change agents around the world. Work life is changing. As companies become more agile and self-managed, the demands of workforce development require engaging, human-centred solutions. World of Insights’s goal is to empower their customers to transform corporate learning.

Based in Finland, World of Insights is growing fast amongst the learning and development elite. They have customers in over 20 countries, including Deloitte, Nestlé, Siemens, and Accor Hotels. Their team is led by international experts on corporate learning, innovation, design, and games.

Knowledge Partner

www.courageventures.com

Courage Ventures Seed Funds make equity investments in early-stage startups that want to advance global human well-being through digital means. They have strategically selected their three investment areas – Health, Education, and Environment – as a result of their team’s networks, investment expertise, operational experience, and their collective fit to current market opportunities. These markets are attractively positioned for investment growth.

Knowledge Partner

leidenschaft.fi

Leidenschaft exists to change the way of working. They help startups understand and lead their company culture and turn it into a competitive advantage. Founded in 2015, the Leidenschaft team has grown to comprise 16 people. They offer the best interim HR directors and culture consulting, and have their own digital product, the Siqni employee insight tool. Their vision is to see the words “passion” and “working life” in the same sentence by 2025.

Knowledge Partner

Autham Investments was founded in Namibia by qualified and experienced accountants and financial planners. They assist companies from inception until they become renowned brands, and provide personalised services to individuals. They strive to provide world-class solutions to clients’ needs through well-articulated strategies.

Sponsor

The AGS Programme is a private sector development initiative funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Commerce, Trade, and Industry of Zambia. It directly supports startups and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to accelerate their growth and expand their contribution to the creation of jobs, well-being and inclusivity in the Zambian economy. AGS focuses on businesses that show promise in Lusaka, Copperbelt, and North Western Provinces, with key sectors including agribusiness, forestry, renewable energy, circular economy, and mining service sectors. ICT and education are seen as additional, cross-cutting sectors.

Knowledge Partner

kilimofresh.co.tz

Kilimo Fresh is a Tanzanian-based B2B produce distribution platform that connects smallholder farmers and produce buyers to a fair and reliable market. The company enables buyers to access better-quality and fresh produce directly from the farms at affordable prices and delivered directly to their locations. The solution gives consumers a simple online ordering platform to purchase their daily needs of fresh produce, provides farmers with stable pricing and direct access to the market for their crops, and eliminates food waste between farm and fork.

Knowledge Partner

www.davidparrish.com

David helps innovative and creative enterprises to grow and achieve greater success. He works with early-stage and more established enterprises, especially in the creative, digital, and cultural sectors. David brings his international experience and connections to clients and projects worldwide (50+ countries so far).

His work includes online mentoring, consultancy, workshops, and speeches on entrepreneurship issues. David is the author of two business books written for creative entrepreneurs. He has several professional and academic accreditations.

Knowledge Partner

growthwheel.com

GrowthWheel is a visual toolbox and online platform used by business advisors, incubators, and entrepreneurship educators to help businesses make decisions and take action.

It helps startup and growth companies build their businesses through a simple action-oriented process – one that stays true to the way most entrepreneurs think and work. The GrowthWheel framework is used to start structured conversations about a business, and helps the entrepreneur identify their company’s opportunities and challenges. GrowthWheel serves as the main checklist for what steps to take next.

Avoid blind spots by using the framework and identify the most important focus areas within your client’s business.

Knowledge Partner

www.goodwell.nl

Goodwell Investments is a pioneering impact investment firm focused on inclusive growth in sectors providing basic goods and services and income generation opportunities to underserved communities in Africa and India. The firm provides early-stage equity to high-growth, high-impact businesses. With teams in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and the Netherlands, and a track record of over 10 years, Goodwell demonstrates the ability to simultaneously deliver powerful social impact and strong financial returns.

Knowledge Partner

kalaharihoney.com

Kalahari Honey is a honey aggregator, packager, and distributor from Botswana that produces honey and honey wine for both local and export markets. The company uses beehives to solve hunger, unemployment, as well as human and wildlife conflict. Kalahari Honey uses beehives to keep elephants away from farms, lowering incidences of human–elephant conflict using natural methods. They train and supply farmers with beehives so they can use bees as living fences to keep elephants away from crops.

Knowledge Partner