About AFRISE Challenge

The AFRISE Challenge provides an opportunity for high potential African youth and student entrepreneurs to rise up in their entrepreneurial journey, and contribute to local and regional economic development by becoming job creators.

Concordia University and Hindsight Ventures have partnered for this program, with a central theme focusing on how youth entrepreneurs can help “African” economies to “Rise”.

The program is aimed at 18 - 35 year old African youth. We are looking for applications from Nigeria, Uganda, Morocco, Kenya and Senegal. AFRISE seeks to identify young innovators and entrepreneurs who have a scalable idea to solve a mass challenge.

We are looking for enterprising youth (as individuals or teams) who are solving for, but not limited to below:


Financial Services

Financial Services

Healthcare

Healthcare

Agriculture

Agriculture

Energy / Utility

Energy / Utility

Education

Education

Environment

Environment

Telecommunications

Telecommunications

Arts & Creativity

Arts & Creativity

About Afrise Challenge

Program Takeaways

Accelerator Program

Accelerator Program

30 high-potential founders will be selected for a mentorship and leadership development accelerator, that will be delivered by successful founders, industry leaders, domain experts and investors; alongside leaders from Concordia University, Hindsight Ventures and AfriLabs global network.

International Demo Day

International Demo Day

The Accelerator Program will culminate with an International Demo Day, wherein the Top-15 Entrepreneurs present at a Virtual Demo Day to a group of early stage venture investors and Entrepreneurship Support Organizations for accessing funding support (grant + equity based funding)

Technology Credits and other Support

Technology Credits and other Support

Each startup gets in excess of $600,000 in technology credits from partners such as AWS, Zoho, IBM, Microsoft, Canva, DigitalOcean, FreshWorks and more.

Market Exposure Tour to Concordia University, Montreal, QC

International Market Exposure

5 Youth Entrepreneurs get selected for a 1-Week International Market Exposure.

Meet Our Jury Members

AFRISE Challenge will be adjudicated by a jury of prominent leaders from Concordia University and Hindsight Ventures, bringing in their deep domain expertise.

Ajay Ramasubramaniam

Ajay Ramasubramaniam

Co-Founder & CEO,
Hindsight Ventures

Hawa Keita

Hawa Keita

Lead - Africa Initiative,
Concordia

Prasanth Kumar

Prasanth Kumar

Head of Entrepreneur Academy & Snr. Manager - Entrepreneurship Development Africa,
UM6P

Program Timelines

27th January 2025

Program Annoucement

Program
Announcement

14th March 2025

Application Closes

Application
Closes

24th March 2025

Cohort Announcement

Cohort
Announcement

31st March 2025

Bootcamp Commences

Bootcamp
Commences

25th April 2025

Bootcamp Ends

Bootcamp
Ends

7th May 2025

Demo Day

Demo
Day

Meet Our Team

Hawa Keita

Hawa Keita

Lead - Africa Initiative,
Concordia

Jagruti Bista

Jagruti Bista

Co-Founder & Managing Partner,
Hindsight Ventures

Hillary Anyomi

Hillary Anyomi

Program Manager
Hindsight Ventures

Ecosystem Partners

Absa ReadyToWork
GetEquity
Strathmore University
Lagos Innovates
Dot Kenya
Impact Hub Dakar
Build Ventures Africa
Techfield
Avoda
UM6P-EA
UM6P-UM
Give 1 Project

Program FAQs

  • 4 Weeks Virtual Bootcamp
No. The program is not charging any fees.
You can apply provided you are a young entrepreneur from Uganda/Nigeria/Morocco/Senegal/Kenya, solving a problem with the potential to have a massive impact.
Applications will be selected through a scoring mechanism by our Jury
30 startup founders will be selected for a mentorship and leadership development accelerator.
Yes, having a prototype or some early traction is always preferable. We are open to receiving napkin-stage ideas.
It is a virtual program.
While the bootcamp will be delivered in English, our team will support in translating certain material in French to accommodate Francophone candidates.
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