Delegates from Estonia have shared insights at the ongoing Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town, offering a blueprint for Africa to replicate the Baltic nation’s reported success in the tech startup landscape.
The Africa Tech Festival aims to unite founders, investors and ecosystem players from Estonia and various African markets, fostering opportunities and partnerships.
Deputy Secretary General for business at Estonia’s ministry of economic affairs and communications, Sandra Sarav, emphasized the potential for Africa to mirror Estonia’s achievements, having generated ten global unicorns from its tech ecosystem.
Despite Estonia’s modest population of 1.3 million, the country has birthed ten unicorns, including industry giants like Skype, Bolt, and Wise. Sarav highlighted that fostering a conducive environment for digitalization played a pivotal role in their success, with over 90% of social services now accessible online—a result of both governmental commitment and private sector innovation.
Sarav also outlined key factors contributing to Estonia’s tech ecosystem triumphs, citing an engaged diaspora, a compact and interconnected ecosystem, and a regulatory framework that bolsters innovation. Estonia’s startup visa, which facilitates global talent acquisition for startups, exemplifies the nation’s supportive policies.
At the event, Liisi Org, founder of Latitude59, an Estonian startup and tech event, emphasized the importance for African startups to target a global audience from inception, underscoring how companies like Bolt transcended local markets to achieve global prominence.
Discussing collaboration between Latitude59 and the African ecosystem, Org revealed plans to host an event in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, in partnership with Tech Safari.
The upcoming event will feature a pitch competition offering a 100,000 euros investment and admission to the Startup Wise Guys accelerator program for winners. The winners will further vie in Estonia’s main pitching competition in May 2024, symbolizing the bridging of opportunities between Estonia and Africa’s burgeoning tech landscapes.