In August 2017, Airbus launched the #Africa4Future initiative, bringing together start-ups and Airbus’ own pioneers to transform innovative ideas into valuable businesses more quickly by combining scale and agility.

The programme selects the top start-ups for an intensive six-month business incubation and accelerator programme involving technical, commercial and mentorship activities in France, Germany and South Africa. 

The access to Airbus resources, feedback on their technology and business models, and collaboration with key Airbus departments and networks, is invaluable for these entrepreneurs.

At the conclusion of the #Africa4Future programme, finalists pitch their products to the aerospace industry at an event at the Paris Air Lab during the Paris International Airshow. This year 10 of the continent’s most exciting businesses were chosen to pitch their innovations.With the 2019 programme the vision was to expand further across Africa and welcome the African portfolio companies into the global Airbus community, continuing collaborations with the portfolio companies with the biggest potential. 

This proved to be a great success with 314 entries received from 19 African countries since the challenge was opened last October. So much so that the judges had a tough time selecting their top ten!

Rey Buckman, BizLab Campus Leader, says “Entrepreneurs are at their core problem solvers – in Africa, more than anywhere, necessity has always been the mother of invention and innovation.

“The aerospace industry offers solutions to many of the development challenges in Africa and around the world. It is a key enabler of socio-economic change and prosperity.

“#Africa4Future’s objective is to combine aerospace’s potential with the entrepreneurship that is a hallmark of African business.This was the primary reason for launching the #Africa4Future initiative.

“To develop successful products and services of the future, it is important to understand how the local ecosystems function and build partnerships with new players to create links with local communities.

“Participating in the challenge is a win-win situation for Airbus and the selected African startups, with finalists receiving access to the Airbus network and experts, and Airbus learning more about solving chllenges on the continent.”

Take a look at some of the inspiring stories invloved with #Africa4Future.

Cloudline CEO Spencer Horne took part in the first #Africa4Future programme in 2017.

Horne noticed several companies delivering small cargo using drones. His idea is to bring this emerging type of logistics one step further, using autonomous airships to deliver goods and international aid to the most remote parts of Africa, as well as other parts of the world in which standard transport infrastructure doesn’t work.

Horne says: “I realised how crazy things are in some landlocked countries in Africa. It costs around 10,000 dollars to deliver just 200 dollars worth of food to South Sudan using airlift. I think we can divide that by 10 using the type of airships we want to develop, because we don’t need most of the infrastructure and ground control.

“Bizlab’s support has been crucial to our traction thus far. Its connections to industry experts, players in the ecosystem, and supportive Airbus engineers has brought us into the aerospace fold.”

On 14 August 2017 heavy rainfall around Freetown, Sierra Leone, caused major landslides that buried several hundred houses. The UN responded immediately with support for those affected, and initial plans were drawn up to rebuild homes and residential districts. However, it was first essential to identify where buildings can be erected safely and where future construction must be avoided.

Track Your Build – who took part in this years’ #Africa4Future programme – works with the UN and development cooperation organisations and aims to prevent future disasters, such as landslides or forest fires affecting populated areas, through good planning.

The start-up creates maps for risk assessment using data captured with drones and also provides evaluations of this digital data. Equipped with Track Your Build’s risk maps, urban planners can plan roads, power lines, fibre-optic cables and water supply and wastewater disposal systems that are, as far as is possible, future-proofed against extreme weather events. 

In Kibera, Nairobi over 95% of the population rely on communal water points as their main source of water. These water points are often faced with severe water shortages. 

With little to no data existing on water distribution for this community, it is difficult for the utilities to improve on their supply.

Mobi-Water – another 2019 #Africa4Future participant – has develped a system to improve water consistency in these water points and reduce the amount of time the women and children of these communitires spend searching for water.

Mobi-Water engages Community Water Providers, Water Point Owners and helps to build their capacity, based on real-time monitoring and effective water management. Water providers can use the Mobi-Water App, connected to sensors at the water points, to monitor their water levels and receive SMS alerts and alarms to warn them when their water levels are low.

To date 33 Mobi-Water systems have been installed through the company’s flagship ‘Maji Mkononi’ initiative, short for ‘Water in your Hand’. These systems serve over 10,000 people and have increased water consistency by 30%.