These are the 10 UAE and African startups selected to participate in GBF Mentorship Program

The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Global Business Forum (GBF) has selected a total of 10 startups from Africa and the UAE have been selected to participate in its mentorship programm aims to foster cross-border cooperation and help participants expand their global presence.

Five UAE startups, members of Dubai Startup Hub, were selected to take part in the three-month programme, each offering unique and innovative solutions and platforms designed to meet specific market demands.

From Africa, five other startups will join the program include: FarmGate Africa, a Nigeria-based startup using advanced technologies to connect international buyers and farming clusters; quip.link, a UK online marketplace for renting and selling construction equipment based in Africa; Complete Farmer, a Ghana-based crowd-farming platform focused on building sustainable farms; Engineering Hub Ltd, a Rwanda-based provider of IT services and solutions for mobile and banking integration platforms; and RideSafe, a Uganda-based mobile application offering real-time health solutions.

Established in 1965, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry is a non-profit public entity, whose mission is to represent, support and protect the interests of the business community in Dubai by creating a favorable business environment, supporting the development of business, and by promoting Dubai as an international business hub.

The selection marks the start of the second phase of the program which involves intensive training and mentorship sessions. Following the three-month period, selected startups will be given an opportunity to participate in a session at the 5th Global Business Forum on Africa on November 18th-19th 2019 in Dubai and exhibit during the high-level forum.

Prior to their selection, the 10 startups participated in the first-ever Chamberthon event which took place in Kigali, Rwanda earlier this year. During the Chamberthon, 20 UAE and African startups worked together to develop the structure and criteria of the GBF Mentorship Program.

Hamad Buamim, President & CEO of Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, described the mentorship program as a unique opportunity for African startups to explore collaboration and expansion opportunities with their UAE counterparts in key areas of mutual interest, such as artificial intelligence, agriculture and fintech, adding that the participants can leverage the GBF Africa 2019 platform to showcase their potential.