MIT OPEN MIC AFRICA SUMMIT

The Open Mic Africa Summit is an annual summer event that is produced by the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT (MIT Legatum Center) and that brings together over 200 leaders from the MIT and African entrepreneurship communities to celebrate Africa’s vibrant and rising entrepreneurial scene.

Supported by the Mastercard Foundation, the 2018 event will take place on August 29th at Strathmore University. The conference agenda includes vision talks by previous Zambezi finalists; fireside chats and speeches led by former MIT students; a discussion on building an inclusive ecosystem in Kenya with Ms. Sarah-Jane Maxed, Executive Director of the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP); and an MIT workshop led by Dr. Anjali Sastri, Faculty Advisor of the MIT Legatum Center.

The agenda also includes an award ceremony for the Zambezi Prize for Innovation in Financial Inclusion, MIT’s flagship competition on financial inclusion in Africa, and for the Inclusive Innovation Challenge Africa, MIT’s prestigious global competition on inclusive innovation, which is powered by the Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE) and which awards $1 million in cash prizes. The winners of the Zambezi and IIC competitions will have an opportunity to attend an MIT faculty-led leadership boot camp on campus in late November.

The Open Mic Africa Summit is part of the Legatum Center’s Africa Strategy and is a component of the Institute-wide MIT-Africa Initiativewhich seeks mutually beneficial engagement in research, education and innovation.