By 
By Chinedu James
Seven African startups are beneficiaries of a $700,000 prize funding from the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology Africa (MEST Africa).
The funding is part of the 10th-year-anniversary celebration by MEST Africa in investing in the African tech startup ecosystem.
The startups are from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Cote d’Ivoire. They will be part of MEST’s 2018 cohorts and will receive $100,000 each in funding. The startups are Base, CodeIn, Judy, Jumeni, Truckr, Nviocia, and ShareHouse.
Managing Director, MEST, Aaron Fu, in a statement to Forbes, expressed MEST’s commitment to the startup ecosystem in Africa. He said startups in its incubator are equipped with the relevant skills to scale by the world’s leading tech players and investors.
Aaron expressed confidence and excitement in the solutions that will emerge largely due to their application of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to solve critical problems across Africa.
“It’s been an exhilarating ride scaling MEST in Africa and this year has absolutely reaffirmed my conviction that MEST is truly unique in Africa in both approach and perspective.
“Our primary pathway to both our incubators and seed fund uniquely begins pre-idea and pre-team, we equip our Entrepreneurs-In-Training (EITs) with a baseline of skills and industry exposure but most importantly with a cohort of 59 other handpicked individuals driven to create Pan-African, if not global, technology businesses. We also de-risk a year of learning and testing with a full scholarship and rigorous, practical curriculum.
The Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) and MEST incubator provides training, seed investment and mentorship for the next generation of globally successful African software entrepreneurs with the intention of redefining the African tech ecosystem through the creatives and solutions that its startups create to build Africa and its economy..
