Competition for Technology Lead SMEs

Innovative Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Africa stand the chance to win a fully paid trip to attend the 2011 Global Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Helsinki, Finland.

InfoDev  is the World Bank’s development financing program and is looking for the top 50 technology driven SMEs who will be sponsored to attend this global event in May 2011.

The competition is open to SMEs that use or develop technology and are members of the InfoDev incubator network. InfoDev has a network of 43 incubators in Africa spreading across Chad, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa.

The winning SMEs will also compete for prizes and funding from the World Bank. Winners will be able to showcase their products and services to other colleagues, donors, experts, Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) and venture capital managers at the event. They will also receive mentorship and take part in an SME fair.

The top 50 technology SMEs search was organised by InfoDev through its Access to Markets and Finance initiative which seeks to create opportunities for SMEs to access financing.

Other than addressing the challenges faced by SMEs to access finance, the initiative also aims at helping SMEs expand their market reach outside of their countries. The initiative has been funded by the Nokia Partnership Program and the Government of Finland.

The Global Forum on Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship will run from 30^th May to 3^rd June 2011 and is expected to attract 350 participants drawn across from the business and technology worlds.

SMEs in the sectors of agribusiness, climate technology, as well as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have been encouraged to apply.

To download the competition entry forms click here

Entries should be submitted before 14^th March 2011 and the winners will be announced on 11^th April 2011.

Image: Global Target by jscreationzs on www.freedigitalphotos.net