Plaqad and StartWeb, two of Africa’s most promising software companies have announced a N10m prize for African entrepreneurs in a collaborative drive to help young entrepreneurs around the continent accelerate and scale up their businesses.
StartWeb, a technology startup rendering no-code Software as a service (SaaS) to individuals and organisations based in Lagos and Johannesburg, and Plaqad, a Lagos and Delaware-based software company said they have identified some significant hurdles small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) around Africa’s face and will intervene leveraging on ‘#ThatOneThingie’.
‘#ThatOneThingie’, a social media campaign that calls on entrepreneurs to articulate particular challenges faced in their business operation. Through the campaign, Plaqad and StartWeb will call on members of their 50,000+ community to help these entrepreneurs, in addition to providing them with a suite of support or prizes worth over N10m or $20,000.
“I’ve founded several startups and continue to face one challenge or the other. We are not by any means a super company or on our way to unicorn status yet; but we do not want to wait until we have become really successful before we help our community,” said Thabo Ledimo, the co-founder of StartWeb.
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The StartWeb and Plaqad prize pool will give G-Suite subscriptions, Plaqad and StartWeb software, free business incorporation, legal services, public relations support, free domain names, ISP, and other benefits to 50 entrepreneurs who demonstrate passion for their business; commitment to their ecosystem, and can articulate lacking resources that their respective businesses need to thrive and succeed.
Adekunle Ayeni, Plaqad founder, said both StartWeb and Plaqad share a common vision of helping small businesses across Africa to grow. He therefore urged intending participants to visit https://plaqad.startweb.africa/home or join the conversation on social media using the hashtag #ThatOneThingie.
“We have an opportunity to bring these conversations to the centre stage and to use the resources we have – be it cash, tools, or other resources, in making sure the next African SME, startup, or idea does not fail,” Ayeni said.
Kelvin Orifa, co-founder, StartWeb, said the programme will run from Tuesday, December 22, to Monday, January 23, 2022. According to him, African businesses face a lot of challenges, most of which their counterparts in Europe and America cannot relate with.
“We are starting this programme as a way to not just bring global attention to these issues; but to also play our part, no matter how small, in fixing them and helping as many people as we, and members of our community can,” said Orifa.
