#AfricaVsVirus Challenge
Ideathon, April 17 – 19, 2020 for 72 hours
What a wonderful collection of highly innovative solutions were gathered by the African Development Bank and Seedstars! We were part of it. #AfricaVsVirus Challenge was organized to provide tech and non-tech solutions to some of the most pressing challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. They invited socially committed citizens worldwide, problem solvers, creative minds, health experts, programmers, graphic and web designers to come together in a collaborative digital process.
72 hours
54 African countries
25 000 participants
750 final submissions
4000 moderators and mentors
200 000 messages
3000 challenges
It’s fantastic how the different areas can work together to achieve a higher goal. The nine main themes for the challenge were:
Public health and epidemiology, Vulnerable populations, Businesses & Economy, Community, Education, Entertainment, Government support, Environment and Energy, Food security
Further details on the topics can be found here.
Support during the Challenge
Mentors closely accompanied the teams during the entire duration of the challenge. They are experts in specific fields who have been required to support the teams either in terms of content or technically in developing solutions to the proposed challenges. Petra mentored and supported in the challenge-areas Business & Economy, Environment, and Education.
“I am a growth expert of Konsultori and have been working with startups all over Europe for the last 10 years. I am also training startups on investor-readiness with our own platform key2investors which we also have white-labelled in Africa. I contribute to African startups in these challenging times.”
What are the expected results of the challenge?
During the 72-hour “ideathon”, the teams developed innovative solutions to problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic. These solutions can be used to solve urgent problems that require immediate attention, or they can be medium to long-term solutions to build resilience that requires longer set-up processes. Following the #AfricaVsVirus Challenge, the best solutions will be selected and will be fully implemented with partners and donors in Africa and worldwide.
