A few highlights from the first GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Bootcamp
Thursday 20 July, 2017 | Blog | blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | Global
Between 8 and 10 July 2017, our team (GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator) held a bootcamp for our nine Innovation Fund portfolio start-ups. The three-day closed-door gathering, held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, consisted of expert presentations, workshops and networking sessions. ...
Our three highlights from Echelon Asia 2017
Wednesday 5 July, 2017 | Blog | East Asia and Pacific | Ecosystem Accelerator | English
On 28 and 29 June 2017 we attended the Echelon Asia event in Singapore. The event combines a conference including different tracks tailored to specific audiences – e.g. investors, corporate innovation – as well as the ‘TOP100’ pitching competition and an exhibition floor ...
Three takeaways from the Africa Business Technology Forum 2017
Thursday 29 June, 2017 | Blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | English | Sub-Saharan Africa
On 21 June, the GSMA’s Ecosystem Accelerator and Mobile Money teams attended the Africa Business Technology Forum which was hosted by Africa Business Technology Network (ATBN). The event convened entrepreneurs, investors, ecosystem builders, government bodies and ...
Three tips for start-ups pitching to mobile operators in emerging markets
Friday 16 June, 2017 | Blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | Global
The GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator ran its first expertise clinic on the 7th of June. The session, aimed at our nine portfolio start-ups, is part of the mentorship package that comes with our Innovation Fund, which is currently accepting applications for Round 2 (apply here). ...
Our three highlights from Afrobytes 2017
Tuesday 13 June, 2017 | Blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | Sub-Saharan Africa
On 8 and 9 June 2017 the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator team attended the Afrobytes conference in Paris. For its second edition, the event – designed as a “marketplace to meet key players of the global African tech ecosystem” – gathered hundreds of entrepreneurs, investors, tech ...
Our three highlights from Google I/O Extended 2017 Sri Lanka
Tuesday 23 May, 2017 | Blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | English | South Asia | Sri Lanka
On May 27th, the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator team took part in Google I/O Extended 2017 Sri Lanka at the invitation of the host, Dialog Axiata. The event, meant to share Google I/O keynote with Sri Lanka’s tech community, gathered more than 3,000 people: developers, start-up ...
Next steps in solidifying start-up and mobile operator relationships
Tuesday 16 May, 2017 | Blog | blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | English | Sub-Saharan Africa | Uncategorized
Following our last report “Opening Doors: A Start-Up’s Guide to Working With Mobile Operators in Emerging Markets”, Adia Sowho, Director of Digital Business at Etisalat Nigeria, has guest-authored this post to share her views and recommendations for local start-ups wanting ...
Opening Doors: A Start-Up’s Guide to Working With Mobile Operators in Emerging Markets
Wednesday 3 May, 2017 | Blog | blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | Global | Programme | Region | Video
Mobile in emerging markets is becoming ubiquitous. The number of unique mobile subscribers in emerging markets has jumped from 177 million in 2000 to 3.7 billion in 2016. By 2020, 80% of global unique mobile subscribers will be in emerging markets. While this exponential ...
Announcing the first start-ups selected by our GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund
Thursday 27 April, 2017 | Blog | East Asia and Pacific | Ecosystem Accelerator | English | Innovation fund and grants | Middle East and North Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa
The GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund provides selected start-ups in Africa and Asia with grant funding, technical assistance, and the opportunity to partner with mobile operators in their markets to help scale their products and services into sustainable businesses ...
Our three takeaways from Africa Tech Summit London 2017
Wednesday 26 April, 2017 | Blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | English | Sub-Saharan Africa
On April 21st, the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator team participated in the Africa Tech Summit London event. This congregated some of the brightest minds in Africa tech scene (from start-up founders and investors to mobile operator executives and tech hubs managers) to discuss ...
Our three takeaways from Seedstars Summit 2017
Wednesday 12 April, 2017 | Blog | East Asia and Pacific | Ecosystem Accelerator | English | Innovation fund and grants | Middle East and North Africa | Mobile access and use | South Asia | Sub-Saharan Africa
On April 6th, the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator team had the opportunity to participate in the Seedstars Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland. The summit was the final event of a start-up competition that took place in 62 countries with more than 8,000 start-up applications screened ...
Our takeaways from the ‘Innovating in Development’ event
Friday 31 March, 2017 | Blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | English | Global | Global | Innovation fund and grants | Mobile access and use
This blog was co-authored by Rosie Afia and Caroline Sheldon. The two-day ‘Innovating in Development’ workshop run by IMC Worldwide (Ideas to Impact), hosted by representatives from DFID, USAID, Rockefeller Foundation convened players such as: Shell Foundation, Global ...
Our three takeaways from Mobile World Congress and 4YFN 2017
Friday 10 March, 2017 | Blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | English
From 27 February to 2 March 2017, the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator team took part in Mobile World Congress and 4YFN in Barcelona. Both events gathered over 108,000 professionals from the mobile industry. While a blog post cannot suffice to cover events of this magnitude, we ...
Our three takeaways from Africa Sankalp Forum
Monday 6 March, 2017 | Blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | English | Sub-Saharan Africa
On February 23-24, the GSMA’s Ecosystem Accelerator team had the opportunity to participate in the 4th edition of Sankalp Africa Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. The event convened hundreds of global delegates including entrepreneurs, investors, corporations, governments and ...
The power of mobile operator APIs in emerging markets
Monday 20 February, 2017 | Blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | English | Global | Mobile access and use | Video
Mobile operator APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) have unlocked powerful use cases in emerging markets, allowing deeper proliferation of valuable mobile solutions. In an earlier publication in July 2016 (APIs: A bridge between mobile operators and start-ups in ...
Our three takeaways from the Eurasia Mobile Challenge
Wednesday 1 February, 2017 | Blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | English | Europe and Central Asia | Innovation fund and grants | Mobile access and use
On January 25th, the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator was invited to participate in the Eurasia Mobile Challenge hosted by mobile operator Vimpelcom in Yerevan, Armenia. The event was the regional finale for the 24 start-up teams which gathered from 8 countries after local ...
Building Synergies: How Mobile Operators and Start-ups Can Partner for Impact in Emerging Markets
Friday 13 January, 2017 | Blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | English | Global | Innovation fund and grants | Partnership engagement
When the term “unicorn” first emerged in 2013 to describe a privately owned start-up valued at over $1 billion, there were no start-ups from emerging markets on the list of thirty-nine. Three years later, the list has more than quadrupled to 179, including 11 from emerging ...
Our three takeaways from MEST’s Africa Technology Summit
Friday 16 December, 2016 | Blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | English | Middle East and North Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa
On December 6 and 7, GSMA’s Ecosystem Accelerator team was invited to speak at the Africa Technology Summit – hosted by MEST in Lagos, Nigeria. The two-day summit convened to discuss ways technology can be used to achieve Africa’s goals. In line with GSMA Ecosystem ...
Our three takeaways from Seedstars Africa
Thursday 15 December, 2016 | Blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | Middle East and North Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa
On December 8th, the GSMA’s Ecosystem Accelerator programme participated in Seedstars’ Africa summit in Kigali, Rwanda, a one-day event gathering the community Seedstars has built through their extensive coverage of the continent, with local competitions across 18 countries ...
Our three takeaways from AfricaCom
Tuesday 29 November, 2016 | Blog | Ecosystem Accelerator | English | Middle East and North Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa
On November 15th-17th, GSMA’s Ecosystem Accelerator team took part in AfricaCom, a tech and telecom focused three-day event that gathered around 10,000 attendees this year in Cape Town under the theme, “Economic Development and Social Empowerment through Digital ...