A week of exciting innovation activities across Addis Ababa culminates with the pitch event and regional finals of the Startup World Cup

PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, November 30, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The 2019 edition of P!TCH ETHIOP!A was deservedly won by Axiom Financial Technologies - a fintech startup based in Addis Ababa that is focused on credit risk management services for individuals and businesses in emerging markets.

THE PRE-WORK
For six weeks prior to the grand finale at the Sheraton Hotel in Addis, seven selected startups representing a variety of sectors across Ethiopia were groomed through a virtual incubation program led by Kwame Osei of the African Technology Foundation. Leading up to the day long pitch finals, which also doubled as the regional finals of the 2020 edition of the Startup World Cup in Silicon Valley, the startups were also exposed to an international network of investors, industry stakeholders and policy makers during the annual Africa Fintech Summit that was also held at the Sheraton Hotel in Addis.

THE MAIN EVENT
The P!TCH ETHIOP!A event was declared open by Thomas Debass of the US State Department's Office of Global partnerships.After the opening keynote remarks by David Renz, Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy in Addis and Amrote Abdela, Regional Director of Microsoft For Afrika, the audience enjoyed a panel discussion on the global technology ecosystem, moderated by Marc Carlson of the US State Department and featuring Thuso Segupulo of Amazon Web Services alongside Walid Mathlouthi of Google.

The Ethiopian technology ecosystem was also introduced to Pegasus Tech Ventures and the related activities of the Startup World Cup. Represented by Eugene Barysau, the event co-organizers laid the groundwork for the competition and selection processes that will guide the final announcement of the regional winner to be chosen to represent Ethiopia in SIlicon Valley in May 2020.

Following this presentation, the pitch event kicked off and the seven finalists got five minutes on stage to present their products, services, technologies and solutions to a packed audience and esteemed panels of feedback judges representing global innovation and investment stakeholders. The judges included Dolapo Agbaje of Apis Partners, Alina Truhina of Founders Factory, Jeff Hoffman - co-founder of Priceline, Robbel Chiappini of CRE Ventures and Rebecca Hui of Roots Studios.

REGIONAL WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Following aggregated scoring by the independent panel of judges the team of AXIOM Financial Technologies were declared winners of P!TCH ETHIOP!A 2019 and the Regional Winners for the 202 Startup World Cup. The founders are on their way to Silicon Valley next year and eager to compete on a global stage.

Sponsors and supporters of the 2019 edition of P!TCH ETHIOP!A include Google, Microsoft, the US State Department,iCogLabs, Kudu Ventures and the African Technology Foundation.

Kwame Osei
African Technology Foundation
+1 818-660-5676
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