NBA Africa Accelerator: Nigerian Festival Coins and Salubata among 4 winners

Two Nigerian startups, Festival Coins and Salubata, have been named winners of the NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator program. This was announced in a statement obtained by Technext. The winners were announced by NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer Mark Tatum.

The NBA Africa Accelerator launched in April 2024 to support the continent’s tech ecosystem and the next generation of African entrepreneurs. In addition to Festival Coins and Salubata, other African startups such as HustleSasa from Kenya and UBR VR from Egypt also made the list.

Speaking about the winners and the remaining six finalists, NBA Africa CEO Clare Akamanzi said the startups had demonstrated the creativity, drive and determination needed to shape the future of sports on the African continent.

“Congratulations to all the incredibly talented entrepreneurs who took part in this year’s program, with special recognition to the 10 finalists and four outstanding winners. These outstanding companies have demonstrated creativity, drive and determination to shape the future of sport in Africa and will help the continent take its rightful place on the world stage. We look forward to following their success for many years to comeAkamanzi said.

Meet the winners of the NBA Africa accelerator

The NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator is open to early-stage startups in Africa that are developing solutions in event management and ticketing, youth development, artificial intelligence and digital marketing. The 10 finalists, selected from over 700 early-stage African startups that applied, presented their products to a panel of international industry leaders during Demo Day at the NBA headquarters in New York on Wednesday.

The judges included Accelerate Africa co-founder and CEO, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji; NBA Deputy General Counsel for Technology, Software Licensing and Digital Platforms, Franciscus Diaba; Managing Director, Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Rwanda, Crystal Rugege; Chegg Inc. Executive Chairman Dan Rosensweig; and partner at Development Partners International Joanne Yoo.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver also delivered opening remarks and met with the 10 finalists.

The four winning companies are:

Festival coins (Nigeria), an event technology company that offers a customizable, no-code registration and ticketing platform called Tix Africa for events in Nigeria and Ghana, won the first place prize and $50,000.

Salubata (Nigeria), a company that creates modular shoes recycled from plastic waste to reduce the global carbon footprint through its eco-friendly products, won the second place prize and $40,000.

HustleSasa (Kenya), which provides live event services such as payment processing, attendee check-in, merchandise sales, customer data management, influencer tracking and more, won the third place prize and $30,000.

UBR VR (Egypt), which provides state-of-the-art, fully immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences throughout Egypt, won the fourth place prize and $20,000.

Winners will receive financial support and mentoring, including the opportunity to participate in workshops and development programs conducted by NBA Africa or its partners. Each of the six remaining finalists received a $10,000 prize.

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