Core Agenda & Exhibition: 8 - 10 Nov
Partner Programmes & Digital Content: 7 - 11 Nov,
CTICC, Cape Town
Africa's Rising Star Award
Voting is now open!
WINNER

Tobi Lafinhan
Co-Founder at Venture for Africa
Tobi Lafinhan has over 4 years of experience working in leading organisations across West Africa in a variety of industries, including tech. As the Co-founder of Venture for Africa, he created a fellowship program designed to fill talent gaps in Africa’s startup ecosystem – enabling top local and global fellows to access opportunities at leading startups in Africa. As the previous Head of Recruitment for MEST Africa – he led and managed recruitment processes and funnels across key Pan-African markets, recruiting promising software entrepreneurs and founders eventually backed by a $1 million seed fund, as well as supported international marketing and recruitment efforts for fellows and mentors into MEST Africa's Pan-African training program and incubators.
Tobi is also involved in several podcasts – most recently the launch of the Connecting Africa podcast, tackling the biggest trends in African tech and interviewing local startups disrupting their industries.
Shortlist

Ian Abraham
Head of Design and Innovation at Kune Food
Ian is an out-of-the-box innovator and inventor with a passion geared towards solving problems through design solutions. He is experienced in Product Design & Development, UI/UX, Marketing, Copywriting, Graphics, Film, Animation, Motion Graphics, Photography, 3D Printing, and Design
He has a keen interest in emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Renewable Energy, and Virtual Worlds.

Joy Mwangi
CEO & Co-Founder at Ada Animation
Joy is the founder of a pan-African Animation studio headquartered in Kenya that seeks to build a thriving industry in Africa that will create employment for the youth and catalyze wealth creation opportunities.
Ada Animation Bootcamp is a three-month hybrid programme that provides ambitious African animators with the necessary skills, tools, mentorship and a platform to create their own stories and earn from them.
To bridge the gap of lack of mentorship and training, she has collaborated with renowned industry players as the mentors who train and network with the trainees to create a skilled workforce that will eventually collaborate in their international projects through Ada Animation’s capacity-building portal. Her desire is to have trained 18 animators in each of the 54 countries in Africa by the year 2025.

Arnold Nyendwa
TEDx speaker, multi-award-winning inventor & entrepreneur, and Founder & CEO at VENTURAS JUMPSTART
Arnold is a globally recognized Zambian inventor and entrepreneur. He is the Founder & CEO at Venturus Jumpstart Ltd, a Stainless Steel Tech company.
Arnold Nyendwa is an entrepreneur and inventor based in Lusaka, Zambia, who pioneered the first stainless steel stove in Africa. Inspired by personal and family experiences in Zambia, the invention aims to reduce the adverse effects of charcoal and wood stoves and addresses the lack of electricity supply in a cost-effective manner. Arnold's invention has won him multiple awards all over the world.