Meet Our Finalists!
The ADF is proud to announce the finalists of the African Drone Business Challenge (ADBC). These 10 finalists were selected from a competitive pool of 148 submissions from across the continent. Startup teams will attend the African Drone Forum in Kigali, Rwanda in February 2020. While at the forum, they will pitch their business ideas live to a panel of judges and audiences of more than 800 people and compete for cash prizes of up to £40K.
Imagine an Africa with low mobility costs and just-in-time delivery, or with massive amounts of new imagery available for mapping and monitoring – what new business opportunities could exist in e-commerce and data services?
The African Drone Forum (ADF) asks African entrepreneurs to envision new commercial use cases that may emerge resulting from this new wave of technologies such as drone delivery services, digital fabrication, and artificial intelligence for navigation and image analysis.
Ready to launch a new idea?
The African Drone Business Challenge is the first pan-African business plan competition designed exclusively for African entrepreneurs that have identified new and innovative business models enabled through drone technology and data.
The commercial use cases for drone applications can impact a broad array of sectors. At present, there are emerging applications in Africa related to healthcare delivery, land digitization, agriculture or livestock monitoring, disease surveillance, urbanization tracking, and flood impact assessment.
The objective is to promote drones as a catalyst for new business ventures and ultimately new frontier markets. As such, the African Drone Business Challenge does not focus on the development of new technologies, but rather on exploring sustainable and scalable solutions to important problems around mobility and data landscape.
Benefits & Prizes
Ten finalists will be invited to attend the African Drone Forum where they will pitch their business ideas live to a crowd of industry leaders, investors and government officials. Finalists will compete for cash prizes up to 40,000 GBP.
- Full access to the ADF and Africa Tech Summit
- All travel expenses will be covered for finalists including flights, accommodation, and visas.
- Exhibition space
- Two-day capacity-building workshop (includes pitch training)
- Networking potential with over 1,000 participating digital leaders, tech corporates, technology regulators, banks, mobile network operators, and startups from across Rwanda, Africa and the globe.
Eligibility
To be eligible, you must:
- Be an African citizen or diaspora (consortia led by an African founder may apply)
- Propose business concepts that leverage drone technology or data and will operate within Africa
- Submit a complete business plan through the online portal before the deadline on Monday, 9th of December 2019 at 11:59 P.M. CAT
- Be available to attend the African Drone Forum in Kigali, Rwanda on 3-7 February 2020. ADF will cover travel expenses for selected finalists
Participants can range from an individual entrepreneur or an early-stage startup to an innovation team within a small business, local and international consortium, corporation, or government that focuses on integrating drone services or applications into their business models. Please note, you do not need to be a drone company to apply; submissions should focus on concepts, products, services, and customers for new business opportunities.
Language Requirement
What if English isn’t your first language? In an effort to streamline the review process for our local and international panel of judges, we require all business plans be submitted in English. For non-native English speakers, we encourage you to submit your business plans before November 29th so our team can review and provide feedback. This will ensure that your business concept is presented in a clear and concise manner. If you are selected as a finalist and would prefer a translator for the live pitch, we can accommodate that request.
Timeline & Key Milestones
| Milestones | Key Dates | Location |
| Challenge Launch | 24th Oct 2019 | Online |
| Pre-submission (optional) | 1st Dec 2019 | Online |
| Challenge Submission Deadline | 9th Dec 2019 | Online |
| Finalists are notified | Mid-Jan, 2020 | Online |
| Pre-Pitch Workshop | 3 – 4 Feb 2020 | Kigali, Rwanda |
| Exhibit & Pitch at the African Drone Forum | 5 – 7 Feb 2020 | Kigali, Rwanda |
How to submit your business plan?
Step 1 – Registration
The leading member of your team will need to create an account online through the SKILD website, afterwards the primary account holder can grant access to additional team members. The registration process is quick and simple, click HERE to get started!
Step 2 – Business Plan
Once you’ve registered, you may begin working on your business plan. For compelling submissions, participants should provide clear and concise responses taking into account the topic areas below and providing any additional relevant information that you feel will build a strong case for your business idea.
You may include an optional video elevator pitch of maximum 2 minutes (highly encouraged).
- Problem Statement – What problem are you trying to solve?
- Your Solution – What solution do you propose? What is the value proposition for the customers
- Market Analysis – What is the market size? If data isn’t readily available, attempt to predict/make an educated guess what the market size could be?
- Product or Service – Describe your product or service and explain how drone technology or data would facilitate or enhance your objectives?
- Competition – Who are your competitors and what is your competitive advantage?
- Risks – What are the barriers to market entry? And how do you plan to mitigate that risk?
- Team – Who makes up your management team and what unique experiences do they bring?
- Financials – How will you make money? What are your marketing and distribution strategy? Show a schedule when you expect revenues to pour in.
- Future plans – How will you use the prize money to grow your business? What are your targets for the next six months and year one and three projections?
Step 3 – Feedback on your business plan (optional)
Participants that would like to receive feedback on their proposals before the final deadline, have a pre-submission option. Only proposals that are submitted by Sunday, 1st of December 2019 will receive feedback. Based on this feedback, participants will have the opportunity to revise and further develop their business idea before the final deadline.
Step 4 – Submission
All participants must submit a complete business plan through the online portal before the deadline of Monday, 9th of December 2019 at 11:59 P.M. CAT
Click HERE to start working on your business plan!
Evaluation
All submissions will be evaluated by a panel of local and international industry experts, based on the following criteria:
- Feasibility and implementation plan – 40%
- Scalability and sustainability – 30%
- Drone application and innovation – 15%
- Societal and economic benefits – 15%
Please consider that if you are only at the ideation phase (feel you have the “next big idea”), then you may have to be more creative and submit video, simulations and backup on why your concept is so unique and brilliant that the evaluators should select your team.
Contact Us
Andi Fisanich, Business Challenge Consultant – afisanich@worldbank.org
Jonty Slater, Competitions Manager – challenge@africandroneforum.org