Regional Pitch Competition

About the

Regional Pitch Competition

The GEC+Africa regional pitch competitions aim to bring in Startups and MSMEs from across the continent to showcase their businesses. This will be an opportunity to highlight Africa’s innovative Startups/MSMEs and a platform to strengthen each country’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Applications will be open to tech startups at pre-seed or seed stage with at least a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and MSMEs that are post revenue. Successful applicants will be invited to participate in a bootcamp in preparation for the pitching competitions taking place in their respective countries.

The competition will take a 3 step approach:

1. Countries hosting a lead up activity will select a winner from their pitch competition.

2. The GEC+Africa adjudicators will select a total of 10 winners from the leadup activities who will have an opportunity to travel to Cape Town, South Africa to attend the GEC+Africa.

3. The final pitch on the GEC+Africa stage will have an adjudication panel consisting of ecosystem players from the continent to select the top 3 winners.

PITCH DECK ELEMENTS

Applicants will be requested to submit their pitch decks to be pre-screened.

A typical Pitch Deck document must at least cover the following elements.

a. What is the problem?
b. Who does it affect?
c. How big is it? i.e., does it point to a sizable growing target market?

a. What is our proposed solution?
b. Who is our competitors?
c. What is our competitive advantage?

a. What is our strategy roadmap? Porter’s 5, SWOT
b. Is there a viable business model to be derived from our Value Proposition?
c. What is the time to market or window of opportunity?
d. Is the business model sustainable?
e. Is there potential for growth and scale?

a. Revenue (historical and projections), key assumptions and rationale
b. Expenses/costs estimates, budgets.
c. Margins/profits
d. Financial model and relevant financial ratios

a. Is the business investible i.e., does it meet the investor’s mandate and strategy?
b. Is there potential for a good return on investment for the investor? Is the valuation reasonable? Etc.
c. What are the exit prospects for the investor?

a. Team composition
b. Roles and responsibilities
c. Strengths, weaknesses, gaps etc.

Problem Statement

a. What is the problem?
b. Who does it affect?
c. How big is it? i.e., does it point to a sizable growing target market?

Value Proposition

a. What is our proposed solution?
b. Who is our competitors?
c. What is our competitive advantage?

Business Case

Fundamental Analysis

a. Revenue (historical and projections), key assumptions and rationale
b. Expenses/costs estimates, budgets.
c. Margins/profits
d. Financial model and relevant financial ratios

Investment Case

The Team

a. Team composition
b. Roles and responsibilities
c. Strengths, weaknesses, gaps etc.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Pitch Bootcamp

Applicants whose pitch decks are deemed suitable will be invited to pitch to judges during the lead up activity.

The below criteria will serve as a broad guideline in assessing the applicants when they present their businesses to the adjudicators:

The Problem Statement: has the entrepreneur(s) clearly identified the problem they are looking to solve and who this problem affects? Is the problem big enough i.e., does it point to a sizeable growing target market?

Value Proposition: Is the proposed solution distinct from the current solutions in the market? Does it have a clear competitive advantage?

The Business Case: Is the business model viable in how it intends to make money alongside its value proposition? Is this business model sustainable? Does the business have a clear strategy?

Team Composition: Is the team skilled and capable enough of executing on the product/service delivery and its business model?

The Minimum Viable Product: How effectively does the MVP showcase the value proposition? Does the MVP provide a robust foundation for further development and scaling?

Overall Quality of the Pitch: Was a pitch deck submitted? Was the entrepreneur prepared in their presentation and in answering questions?

1.

2.

Value Proposition: Is the proposed solution distinct from the current solutions in the market? Does it have a clear competitive advantage?

3.

The Business Case: Is the business model viable in how it intends to make money alongside its value proposition? Is this business model sustainable? Does the business have a clear strategy?

4.

Team Composition: Is the team skilled and capable enough of executing on the product/service delivery and its business model?

5.

The Minimum Viable Product: How effectively does the MVP showcase the value proposition? Does the MVP provide a robust foundation for further development and scaling?

6.

Overall Quality of the Pitch: Was a pitch deck submitted? Was the entrepreneur prepared in their presentation and in answering questions?

CONTACT

GEN Botswana

Shanice Maposa
Email: botswana@genglobal.org

GEN Nigeria
Olayinka Oguntola
Email: ooguntola@genglobal.org

GEN South Africa

Charne Godfrey

Southafrica@genglobal.org

GEN Uganda
Mary Odongo
Email: mkondongo@genglobal.org

GEN Zambia
Edwin Zulu
Email: ezulu@genglobal.org

MARKETING

Enrich your WordPress site more interactive by adding a gorgeous looking call to action widget.

22 On Sloane will be responsible for creating digital marketing collateral for all lead-up activities.
Participants will register on the official GEC+Africa website to attend or participate in the pitch bootcamp.
22 On Sloane will share email templates which will be used to communicate through mailers and when communicating to the selected participants.
The pitch bootcamp city host will ensure that they always use the ‘Connecting Africa’ signature in all their communications.
The pitch bootcamp city host will market the event to its ecosystem to attract participants.

Regional Pitch Competition

About the