Wassim Chourbaji
Qualcomm Incorporated has announced the selection of 10 startups for its fourth year of the Qualcomm Make in Africa Mentorship Program.
This initiative is part of the Qualcomm Africa Innovation Platform, which supports the development of Africa’s deep-technology ecosystem. It provides mentorship and training programmes, with a focus on advanced connectivity and processing technologies such as Edge AI/ML, compute, IoT, and Qualcomm’s AI development platform from Arduino.
At the programme’s finale, one startup will be awarded a Social Impact Fund grant from Qualcomm for Good and all participating startups will be eligible for a $5,000 stipend upon successful completion of programme requirements.
Qualcomm provides the startups with a variety of resources such as product design guidance on Arduino AI platforms, business coaching, access to engineering consultation, and free IP education such as L2Pro Africa.
For this year’s edition of the one-of-a-kind equity-free African mentorship programme, 10 early-stage startups were chosen from a record number of over 1,200 applications from over 45 African countries, based on their ability to apply advanced connectivity and processing technologies to innovative end-to-end systems solutions.
The industries represented by the startups include agriculture, assistive technology, smart cities and utilities, smart infrastructure, EV transportation, and education.
The 2026 cohort includes Amperra Charging Company (Namibia) – AI‑driven, grid‑adaptive smart EV charging platform designed to enable scalable electric mobility across Africa; Anatsor Ltd (Nigeria) – Integrated digital poultry management system that improves productivity, health tracking, and farm efficiency; D-Olivette Labs (Nigeria) – Bio‑intelligence platform delivering data‑driven insights for sustainable and efficient agricultural production and Mindora Corporation (Zimbabwe) – Braille keyboard solution that improves digital accessibility for visually impaired users.
Others are MVUTU (Republic of the Congo) – Solar‑powered IoT cold storage solution that reduces post‑harvest losses for smallholder farmers; QualiKeeper Investments Ltd (Zambia) – Affordable AIoT livestock monitoring system designed for low‑connectivity rural environments; SafeSip (Tanzania) – Smart water access and monitoring solution that ensures safe, reliable drinking water in urban and peri‑urban areas; Sesi Technologies Ltd (Ghana) – AI‑powered field device that enables early cocoa quality assessment and transparent supply chains; TWave Ltd (Uganda) – Automated, solar‑powered fish feeding system that optimizes aquaculture productivity; and Zerobionic (Kenya) – Assistive robotics solutions designed to enhance inclusion and independence for persons with disabilities.
“This year’s startups’ achievements are a powerful testament to Africa’s flourishing innovation ecosystem,” said Wassim Chourbaji, President, Middle East and Africa, and Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, Europe, Middle East and Africa at Qualcomm.
“Four years into Qualcomm Make in Africa, what stands out is not only the growing number of applications we receive, but the increasing sophistication of the solutions being built.
“These startups are pushing the boundaries of what technologies such as Edge AI and 5G can enable, and how they can be deployed at scale across the continent.
“Qualcomm is proud to support and help guide this next wave of African high-tech innovation, from early design and product development to real-world commercialization, and I look forward to seeing where these startups go next,” Mr. Chourbaji said.
He further indicated that participants will receive free edge-AI capable platforms from Arduino, alongside 1:1 technical mentorship and business coaching.
“By bringing perception, decision-making, and actuation onto a single, affordable board, founders can prototype and deploy edge‑AI solutions directly where challenges exist — in farms, clinics, factories, and cities,” he added.
He said participants will also access engineering consultations for product development and guidance on protecting intellectual property.
This includes patent filing consultation from Adams & Adams, Africa’s leading IP law firm, and free IP courses through L2Pro Africa – an IP e-learning platform designed to empower startups, SMEs, and researchers in Africa to protect, secure, and maximize their innovations.
At the end of the mentorship cycle, startups will be eligible for the Social Impact Fund through Qualcomm for Good, supporting societal and market impact through wireless technology.
Reflecting the programme’s relevance across the continent, the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) returns as a partner for the fourth consecutive year.
“The ATU’s key mandate is to ensure that Africa’s telecommunications ecosystem serves Africa’s people. Qualcomm Make in Africa embodies that same principle by putting cutting-edge technology directly in the hands of African innovators to solve African challenges.
“Having seen firsthand the quality of the startups this program produces, returning as a partner in 2026 was not a question of if, but of how we could deepen our contribution. We look forward to seeing this cohort carry that work forward,” said John Omo, Secretary General.
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