The African Leadership University in Collaboration with the Alibaba Business School Global Ecommerce Talent Programme calls application for Africa edition of the GET Global Challenge 2020. The theme of the challenge Digital Solutions during COVID-19 and beyond. The Africa edition is a part of the larger Global competition hosted by Alibaba Business School and is taking place in several countries across the world. The challenge invites applications from innovative digital solutions to support people, businesses and institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Benefits

There will be prizes across both regional and global levels. In particular, the prizes include

• Up to 14,000 USD of business funding.
• A digital economy discovery trip to Alibaba Headquarters in Hangzhou, China.
• Admission to Alibaba GET Talent bank, connected with potential mentors, investors, employers, and business opportunities.
• Special prizes at the regional level to be announced.

In addition, participants will get access to premium digital economy and entrepreneurship education content through online training from Alibaba Business School and from African Leadership University.

Eligibilities 

In order to be eligible for Alibaba GET Global Challenge: Digital Solutions during COVID-19, candidates must

• Be 18 to 30 years of age.
• Sign up as teams of 3-5 members, with at least one member that can communicate effectively in the English Language.
• Have a new business idea or a running business that has been in operation for less than 1 year.
• Not received institutional funding of more than USD100,000 for the current project previously.

GET Africa Region Challenge Timelines

The competition will proceed through 3 rounds of selection before the global finals. As participants proceed across each round, they will be provided with live-streamed training, coaching, and support to develop their businesses.

• Initial Applications and 1st Selection round: April 10, 2020 – May 4, 2020
• Coaching provided by Alibaba GET team and 2nd Selection round: May 9, 2020 – June 5, 2020
• Execution of Business and Regional selection: June 11, 2020 – August 11, 2020
• Regional finals: August 13-15, 2020
• Global Finals: August 17-25, 2020

Application Process

The initial applications require basic information as follows:

• Details of every team member.
• A short description of the problem you are trying to solve as well as a short description of your proposed solution.
• A short statement on why your team is best fit to solve this problem.