Category Archives: competition

MEST AFRICA CHALLENGE

Application Deadline: October 4, 2024

LOCATION: Norway

As MEST continues to deepen her influence on Africa’s tech landscape, the MEST Africa Challenge (MAC) remains Africa’s premier pitch competition for Africa’s emerging tech entrepreneurs, bringing together relevant stakeholders all across the continent and globe to learn more about the happenings on the tech scene. This year will mark the 6th edition of MAC. MEST will provide the winning startup with investment capital, coaching and access to a global network of resources and partners as they build and scale successful businesses that add value to African economies and livelihoods.

ELIGIBILITY:

Early-stage Agritech startup

Monthly Recurring Revenue: A minimum of $5k

Funding raised: $0 to $1M cumulative

Years in existence: 3 years and below

Traction: At least 6 months of recurring revenue

Must be operating in one of the 14 MAC countries (Benin, Cape Verde, Côte D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Mali and Togo)

Founding team: At least 2 founding team members

Registered in Delaware (This is preferred)

Any business model (B2B, B2C, B2B2C, B2G etc…)

All participants must pitch in English

BENEFIT:

The Grand Prize of MAC 2024 is $50,000 in equity investment, access to MEST Portfolio resources and strategic partnerships, 1 year professional business coaching in addition to other benefits and prizes for the overall winner.

APPLY

WEGE PRIZE 2025

Application Deadline: October 6, 2024

LOCATION: USA

Wege Prize, organized by Kendall College of Art and Design’s Wege Center for Sustainable Design with support from the Wege Foundation, is an annual competition that ignites game-changing solutions for the future by inspiring college/university students around the world to collaborate across institutional, disciplinary, and cultural boundaries to redesign the way economies work.

ELIGIBILITY:

To be eligible to participate in wege prize, teams must:

Have exactly five members

Represent at least three (3) different academic disciplines*

Represent at leasttwo(2) different institutions of higher education, such as colleges, universities, or separate colleges/schools within a larger university. (for instance, a team member from example university’s school of engineering and a team member from example university’s school of earth sciences would be considered as representing two different institutions.)*

*these are the minimum requirements. Teams with the greatest disciplinary and institutional diversity will likely have a higher probability of success.

To be eligible to join a team, individuals must:

Attend a college, university, or equivalent institution of higher education anywhere in the world

Be a student enrolled in a full-time (or equivalent) undergraduate, graduate, or post-graduate program, for the duration of the competition*

Teams can be composed of a mix of undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students if they so choose. 

*if you are graduating before may of the competition year, you must still be a student until at least the phase 2 deadline. READ THE FULL DESIGN BRIEF

BENEFIT:

Participants contend for $65,000 (USD) in total cash prizes, all while helping to show the world what the future of problem solving looks like.

APPLY