The 40 finalists have gone through three rigorous screening processes with the final vetting and adjudication done by a pan-African panel of judges comprised of entrepreneurs, VCs and Academia. The Judges included Dele Akinsade, Bob Mbori, Victor Okigbo, Lukonga Lidunda, Martin Butler, Rebecca Enonchong, Stephen Gugu, Ali Hussein, Muchiri Nyaga, Toby Shapshak, Moses Sitati and Richard Tanksley. More than 400 serious applications were processed in lead to this event. These were then short listed to 242 ventures before a selection of the final 40 was made. The ventures are addressing opportunities in Agriculture, Health, Education, Manufacturing, Retail, Media & Entertainment, Communication, Transport and Logistics, Energy, Finance & Banking, Water & Sanitation, and Waste Management & Recycling. On September 25 & 26, these 40 entrepreneurs will present their plans to a global audience of investors, media, strategic buyers, C-level executives, and other entrepreneurs. Nigeria takes the largest chunk of the final 40, followed by Kenya, Ghana and Egypt. Rwanda, Tanzania, South Africa and Ethiopia will each have two representatives, while Tunisia, Benin, Cameroon, Uganda and Zimbabwe have earned their space at the DEMO Africa platform. Here is an overview of the selected ventures. Kenya is known for involving its neighbours in cyberspace warfare especially on Twitter. The most pronounced one was when the Twitterati from Kenya and Nigeria hurled a barrage of 14o character-insults at eachother H/T: Demo-Africa
