“If a start-up struggles to scale, emerging markets might be a solution”

Please login or
register

Stefan Kyora

03.03.2017
Alisée de Tonnac, CEO Seedstars

Alisée de Tonnac is co-founder and CEO of Seedstars World. The organisation, which is known mainly for its competition for start-ups from emerging countries, is now active in more than 60 countries. We talked to her about the start-up scene in emerging markets and why these countries are also of interest to young western companies. And: we have discounted tickets for the invitation only Seedstars Summit.

Ms de Tonnac, the Seedstars Competition has been going since 2013, and this year’s edition saw preliminaries in 65 cities in 55 countries. Has the start-up scene in the emerging countries changed in recent years?
Alisée de Tonnac:
Absolutely and the change has happened very quickly. When we started, many of the applicant start-ups had been founded by expats. A large number of companies also adapted proven models from western countries to their country. Both have changed today. We have a lot of applications from founders from the respective countries, and they focus increasingly on genuine solutions to the problems on the ground. This means that many business models revolve around topics such as health, education and financial inclusion.

At the same time, Seedstars has more support. Has interest in emerging countries grown in the west?
Yes. Large companies want to better understand the markets, private investors are more and more interested in the opportunities and governmental organisations are reacting to the migration crisis.

Are these emerging countries of interest to start-ups?
When countries in Africa, Asia or Eastern Europe are discussed here in Europe, the main focus is on challenges such as corruption. The many attractive features of these countries are overlooked, such as the adoption of new technology, which may be faster than in western countries. And many of these countries are big; for example, Nigeria, where I lived, has more than 180 million inhabitants. Emerging markets can offer growth opportunities, in particular for western start-ups that struggle to scale in their home markets and could have an offering for these frontier markets.

An introduction to the topic for Swiss start-ups is available at the Seedstars Summit. What can visitors expect?
First of all, 65 cool start-ups from all over the world. And then speakers who will report from their own experience; for example, how lucrative markets can be in Africa –  good examples are Bob Collymore, CEO of Safaricom, a leading mobile network operator in Kenya or Kamran Elahian, a very succesful entrepreneur and investor. The summit also offers unique networking opportunities; numerous potential partners are on site, with which western start-ups can collaborate in production or distribution, and of course there are also investors. To make networking easier, we use an app to organise one-to-one meetings. At the last investor forum, more than 300 meetings were arranged.

The competition and the summit are certainly a good thing. But what does Seedstars do to establish relationships between the emerging markets themselves and between these countries and Switzerland?
We have several measures in place in order to build this network and increase the benefits, starting with the fact that the winners of the previous year are part of the local events. Then we host regional summits at the current edition of the competition. In addition, there are several other initiatives: Seedstars Growth is about our accelerator programme and the Seedstars Academy includes a six months internship program to train people with a business idea to build companies together with Seedstars.

In addition, Seedstars also operates Seedspaces. Do they differ from the usual co-working spaces?
Yes. These Seedspaces are co-working spaces that also include opportunities for co-living. Currently, we have a total of six in Geneva and Africa. The fact that we offer co-living in Geneva is obvious – the high rental rates. But in Nigeria, as I experienced myself, you have to pay 12 months’ rent in advance to get an apartment. This is why Seed Space allows co-living there. We are also expanding the Seed Spaces, and there should be a total of 15 in the next 12 months.

Seedstars Summit is an invitation only event. However, readers of Startupticker can directly book discounted tickets on the Seedstars website. The Summit takes place on 6 April in Lausanne.

0Comments

rss