By 
Dar es Salaam will be hosting the Sahara Sparks 2018 and AfriLabs Annual Gathering this year from October 11th -13th to signpost the significant growth and challenges across the continent’s innovation hubs and startup ecosystem.
Sahara Sparks is the largest innovation and technology entrepreneurship event in Africa. The event provides a platform for African startups to pitch and exhibit their products to investors and potential partners. The event is also an avenue for discussion around technological trends and the use of technology to impact the community and promote social changes.
Sahara Sparks 2018 is themed around Data and Innovation in Africa, titled Innovation in The Data Age. Sahara Sparks is working with the AfriLabs Network, Africa’s largest network of innovation hubs and tech spaces to organize two events on one platform, Sahara Sparks 2018 and AfriLabs Annual Gathering. This year’s event will bring together speakers, investors, startups and attendees from across the African continent
This year’s edition of Sahara Sparks will leverage on the success of last year’s edition which focused on “Towards Smart Solutions” across technology, economic and entrepreneurship landscapes. Participants will engage in sessions that includes exhibitions, product launching, pitching sessions, talks, panel discussions among others.
According to Jumanne Rajabu Mtambalike, founder of Sahara Ventures, and promoters of Sahara Sparks, in a previous interview with IT Edge News: “The objective and motivation behind Sahara Spark are to promote early stage companies by providing them with the opportunity to be exposed, pitch and exhibit their products and services, to find investors and potential partners. Sahara Sparks started as the event to bridge the ecosystem gap in Tanzania whereby there was no a single platform in the country to link innovation and technology entrepreneurship ecosystem players in one place to discuss and reflect on different issues affecting the ecosystem.”
