Nigeria Shines As Start-ups Win At NBA Africa Demo Day

Two Nigerian start-ups emerged among the four winners of the first NBA Africa Startup Accelerator Demo Day on September 25, 2024.

The four winning businesses at the event, which NBA Africa launched in April 2024 to support the continent’s technology ecosystem and the next generation of African entrepreneurs, are Festival Coins (Nigeria), Salubata (Nigeria), HustleSasa (Kenya) and UBR VR (Egypt).

From the ten finalists selected earlier, out of which four Nigerian start-ups made the list, NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, Mark Tatum, announced the four prize-winning businesses. The NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator winners will be awarded financial support and mentorship, including an opportunity to participate in workshops and development programs facilitated by NBA Africa or its partners.

The contest began with over 700 early-stage African startup businesses applying to participate, pitching their products to a panel of international industry leaders at a Demo Day at the NBA headquarters in New York City. Judges include Accelerate Africa co-founder and CEO Iyinoluwa Aboyeji; NBA Assistant General Counsel, Technology, Software Licensing and Digital Platforms Franciscus Diaba; Managing Director, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Rwanda Crystal Rugege; Chegg Inc.
Executive Chairman Dan Rosensweig; and Partner at Development Partners International Joanne Yoo.

In the end, Festival Coins, a Nigerian event technology company that offers a customisable, no-code event registration and ticketing platform called Tix Africa for events in Nigeria and Ghana, won the first-place prize and $50,000.

In second place is another Nigerian start-up, Salubata, which creates modular shoes repurposed from plastic waste to reduce the global carbon footprint through its environmentally-friendly products. The company won the second-place spot prize and $40,000.

Kenya’s HustleSasa, which provides live event services that support payment processing, attendee check-in, merchandise sales, customer data management, influencer tracking, and more, won the third-place prize and $30,000 while UBR VR from Egypt, a company that delivers state-of-the-art, fully immersive, in-person virtual reality (VR) experiences across Egypt, won the fourth-place prize and $20,000.

The six other finalists, including Nigeria’s Buzza and Naemo Global along with Backrest (Rwanda), Gara (Côte d’Ivoire), Ghana’s Power to Girls Foundation and South Africa’s Vambo Technologies each received a $10,000 prize.
The Demo Day was supported by three official partners: Paystack Payment Ltd., Kuramo Capital Management and Nigerian University of Technology and Management (NUTM).

NBA Africa CEO, Clare Akamanzi, said: “Congratulations to all of the incredibly talented entrepreneurs who participated in this year’s program, with special recognition to the 10 finalists and four distinguished winners. These outstanding companies have demonstrated the creativity, drive and determination to shape the future of sport in Africa and will help the continent take its rightful place on the world stage. We look forward to following their successes for many years to come.”

In her remarks, NBA Africa Vice President and Country Head of NBA Nigeria, Gbemisola Abudu, said “It’s evident that the continent is hungry for an accelerator that is focused on finding solutions to African problems by startups within the Africa tech ecosystem with the goal that they can play a role in shaping the future of Africa’s creative and sports industry.”

NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator is open to early-stage startups in Africa that are developing solutions on areas such like event management and ticketing, youth development, AI, and digital marketing Africa.

NBA Africa is an affiliate of the National Basketball Association (NBA), a global sports and media organization with the mission to inspire and connect people everywhere through the power of basketball. NBA Africa conducts the league’s business in Africa, including the Basketball Africa League (BAL), and has opened subsidiary offices in Cairo, Egypt; Dakar, Senegal; Johannesburg, South Africa; Lagos, Nigeria; and Nairobi, Kenya. The league’s efforts on the continent have focused on increasing access to basketball and the NBA through youth and elite development, social responsibility, media distribution, corporate partnerships, NBA Africa Games, NBA Stores, the BAL, and more.

NBA games and programming are available in all 54 African countries, and the NBA has hosted three sold-out exhibition games on the continent since 2015. The BAL, a partnership between the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and NBA Africa, is a professional league featuring 12 club teams from across Africa that concluded its fourth season in June 2024. Fans can follow @NBA_Africa and @theBAL on Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.