01 Dec 2015

Modisar Company has secured itself a ticket to represent Botswana at the Seedstars Summit to compete for up to more than P 5 million in equity investment in February 2016 in Switzerland.

Modisar will, with other 55 finalists undergo a three day bootcamp hosted at EPFL, the Tech Centre Lausanne, which will consist of training and mentoring sessions by international investors, mentors from top accelerators business strategy consultants and top CEOs.

This gesture came after they have been crowned the winner of the Best Start-up Company competition hosted by Seedstars World in Botswana on Friday after outclassing other eight contestants in a pitching session.

The contestants of the competition included Modisar, Farmconnecta, Richbase, Hello cabs, Terracam NGO Grow, Crytix, The Event Muse and Earth Love companies.

NGO Grow managed to scoop the second position while Earth love came in the third position.

Modisar, founded last year, is a company offering livestock management application that makes it easier for farmers to manage their farm and was named Botswana's best start for its highly relevant and innovative solution.

“We have always believed that the talents exists in Botswana and this talent and this event is proof of that. All nine startups selected demonstrated exceptional vision and a real hunger and desire to change the world with their businesses and for us the journey has just begun,” Mr said Mesharet Kuhlmann, Founder and CEO of Media Expreshunz.

Seedstars world global competition for fast-growing companies from emerging markets seeks to recognise and provide startups from is more than 52 countries with networking and funding opportunities and is based in Switzerland.

Speaking on behalf of MODISAR  Company  Alec Agisanyang who is a partner said they feel happy and satisfied that they managed to win this competition given the hard work they took to build Modisar into a valuable product  that can make a  really big impact especially on farmers in Botswana.

He said they want a  product that is about the customer than what they want for the customer, they want the customer to define what they want and current they have farmers who are trying their application and giving them valuable feedback.

“We need to make farmers see that farming can actually be a business, so that in time we can become a self-sufficient nation in terms of food production,” said Mr Agisanyang.

He said they are looking forward to and hopeful that they will bring the prize home and make the country proud.

For his part, the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH)'s First Steps Ventures centre manager, Mr Tshepo Tsheko when delivering a key note address emphasised the importance of partnerships in building businesses and encouraged young entrepreneurs to  develop them as business is not a stand-alone thing, it needs a collaborative effort.

Mr Tsheko said Botswana Innovation hub is about networks, and as Science and Technology Park they are enablers and trying to champion the innovation agenda and they want to help young innovators connect to partners platforms. Ends