TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Africa is finally upon us. In a matter of days, the maiden edition of the Battlefield Africa contest will hold, bringing some of Africa’s brightest and most enterprising startups to Lagos, Nigeria.
Taking place on December 11, startups will get a chance to showcase their innovations before an eager audience filled with investors, entrepreneurs, journalists and tech enthusiasts.
Announcing the latest set of judges for Startup Battlefield Africa 2018 https://t.co/9KNg6GVJzH by @mikebutcher pic.twitter.com/BHCkvjXm5M
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) November 29, 2018
As the date draws nearer, TechCrunch has unveiled another batch of incredible judges examining startups at this year’s Battlefield Africa. Here they are.
Titi Odunfa-Adeoye
Titi Odunfa-Adeoye, founder and Managing Partner of Sankore Investments is going to be a judge on the first ever TechCrunch Startup Battlefield Africa.
Ms Titi is a bulwark in the Nigerian investment ecosystem. As Managing Partner of Sankore Investments, she has wealth management experience handling investments for clients such as Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), Diamond bank, Unity Bank, and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority.
The hunt for 'Sub-Saharan Africa’s Most Promising Startup' is on. @TechCrunch is hosting the second edition of its Startup Battlefield Africa event on December 11, 2018.
Get your tickets here: https://t.co/bGsz7x6LWO
— Ventures Platform Fund (@vp_fund) November 23, 2018
Before founding Sankore Investmemts, she has handled investment banking and consultancy services at companies like Zenith Capital, Goldman Sachs, PriceWaterhouse Cooper (PwC) amd KPMG.
Interesting fact, Ms Titi had been touted as a worthy candidate for the Ogun State governorship election.
Tahira Dosani
Brown University trained Tahira Dosani is another judge for this year’s Startup Battlefield Africa contest. Ms Tahira has a solid experience in private equities and management consulting. She currently serves as managing director of Accion Venture Labs. At Accion, she has developed a reputation for supporting seed stage startups. Her venture firm specializes in financing startups using technology to improve financial inclusion.
Gaurav Dosi
Gaurav Dosi, product manager in charge of Facebook’s Jobs section is also scheduled to be a judge on the panel. Mr Dosi comes with a wealth of tech insider experience to go with it too.
He started his career at the highly influential Boston Consulting Group (BCG) before progressing to start his own tech venture in 2010. Interestingly, he was one of the pioneers in the ride sharing sector. He helped co-found QCabs in 2013 and served as CEO until 2013 when the company was acquired by Carzonrent India.
He moved on to Google working there for just three months before progressing to his current role at Facebook.
Temi Marcella Awogboro
Temi Marcella Awogboro is another interesting name on the judges list. With over 10 years of experience in the finance industry, Ms Temi has a steep understanding about financial markets both in the developed countries and in emerging markets, like Africa’s.
https://twitter.com/SamWakoba/status/1067325780252913664
She began her investment banking career as a trader, and later an analyst, at Goldman Sachs in 2011. While at Goldman Sachs, Ms Temi was honoured as Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Scholar and received the Goldman Sachs and Institute of International Education’s Global Leaders Award.
In 2013, she proceeded to venture financing. She cofounded EchoVC Partners, a seed stage investment company. She presently serves as director at The Abraaj Group, a private equities firm, at its UK office.
Wale Ayeni
Head of the International Financial Corporation’s (IFC) Africa venture capitalist arm, Wale Ayeni plays a big role in Africa’s tech development.
Tech blog @TechCrunch selects 5 African investors and founders as judges for Startup Battlefield Lagos on December 11, including Eleni Gabre-Madhin @blueMooneth, Erik Hersman @BRCKnet, Minette Havemann @NaspersVentures, Sangu Delle at Africa Health Holdings and Wale Ayeni @IFC. pic.twitter.com/6LF25LMoEj
— Techloy 💙💛 (@techloy) November 21, 2018
Mr Ayeni began his career working as an engineer at US tech company, Intel Corp. he worked on several critical projects at Intel before moving on to Qualcomm. At Qualcomm he worked on earlier versions of the “Snapdragon” chipsets, thus playing a fundamental role in the development of smartphones.
He crossed over to start a career in finance, beginning at the tech investment division of America’s biggest bank, J. P. Morgan. He was part of the group that closed over $12 billion worth of transactions, particularly Mergers and Acquisitions for bluechip US companies like Facebook, Intel Corp, and Electronic Arts.
Before joining the IFC, Mr Wale led venture financing at companies like Orange Digital and EchoVC. At EchoVC he invested in early stage companies like Printivo and Hotels.ng.
He crossed over to IFC in 2016.
Sangu Delle
Ghanaian serial entrepreneur Sangu Delle is the managing director at Africa Health Holdings, a company committed to building a better healthcare system for Africa. He is also the founder of investment firm, Golden Palm Investments (GPI), and has invested in several firms across the continent.
(Less than) Two weeks to go until @TechCrunch #StartupBattlefieldAfrica! https://t.co/vMkXhZbINR#AfricaIsRising
— Lexi Novitske (@anovitske) November 28, 2018
Minette Havemann
Head of strategy at South Africa’s Naspers Ventures, Ms Havemann is another heavyweight on the panel. She has a long history at Naspers, joining the company in 2009 as a business manager.
She has since held several positions at the company including serving as Chief Revenue Officer at Naspers Labs. Her new role as strategy manager allows her to identify and make investments in promising startups across the African continent.
Erik Hersman
Long time African investor and tech entrepreneur, Erik Hersman is also on the judges panel. Raised in Kenya and Sudan, Mr Erik founded one of the earliest hardware companies on the African continent, BRCK. He also co-founded Ushahidi, a tech platform for social activism. In 2010, he founded the first innovation hub in Kenya, iHub.
Eleni Gabre-Madhin
Dr Eleni Gabre-Madhin is a powerful actor in the agriculture business. Using her superior agricultural expertise, Dr Eleni led the design of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECE) in 2008. The platform is credited as an efficient trading system providing fair treatments and benefits to both producers and buyers alike.
She is presently the CEO of blueMoon, Ethiopia’s first youth agribusiness incubator and seed investing platform.
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