Seedstars World Competition (SSW) has announced Uganda’s Ridelink Limited, an Enterprise Tech Startup, as the local winner from Uganda in the ongoing competition and is set to represent the country in the regional stage. Ridelink is a startup that reimagines how SMEs move both goods and people by connecting these businesses to professional drivers using technology.

Organised by Seedstars, a Swiss-based private company owned by Pierre-Alain Masson and Alisée de Tonna, the competition was started in 2013, with a mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets. It annually holds the Seedstars World Competition to continuously scout for the most promising startups around the Asia, Africa, CEE (Central and Eastern Europe), MENA (Middle East and North Africa) and LATAM (Latin America) regions.

In this year, 1,200 startups all over the world participated in the Online Seedstars Academy, a training program for entrepreneurs to accelerate their growth and receive mentorship from industry experts around the world.

The competition was/is in 3 stages, with step 1, the local stage from June to August 2020 requiring applicants from various countries to apply to compete at the local/country level. The second stage, the Regional Stage will be taking place between November and December 2020, for which Ridelink Limited will be participating.

Under the regional stage (continental stage), the winners from the local stage, 94 in total (25 start-ups from Africa), are set to compete, upon which finalists would be selected for the Grand Finale, also the final stage that will be taking place in April 2021 with representation from the winners of the five regional stages. One winner from the regional competitions represents the continent at the global stage.

10 winners from the regional level competitions will each receive USD. 10,000 in funding in a growth program investment as well as a chance for the same to compete at the Grand Finale for a shot at the Global Winner prize of USD 500K in equity investment.

The regional stage of the competition will include a 1 month long Investment Readiness Program, modernized and personalized program that will help startups become investment ready. It will consist of: action-driven webinars on key business metrics; online office hours, where startups can discuss challenges they are facing; domain groups and 1-on-1 mentoring sessions; investor meetings for potential funding opportunities; and peer-to-peer learning and networking sessions.

Online episodes for the regional stage of the competition will be aired at the end of January 2021 in which case viewers will get to see each local winner pitch in front of the juries and learn more about each of the teams’ startup stories. At the end of each episode, the regional winners moving on to the Global Finale in March 2021 will be announced.

“During this unusual year for everyone, I am proud to say that we managed to identify the most promising startups in 94 emerging markets. The online format of the competition allowed us to dream and go bigger as we reached a larger audience and invited more startups from all the cities of each country to apply. Now, we can’t wait for our local winners to represent their countries in the webisodes of the regional stage of the competition. I’d like to invite everyone to follow their journey and root for their favorite startup from the different corners of the world,” shares Eugenia Shevchenko, Lead of the Seedstars World Competition 2020.

“It has been inspiring seeing entrepreneurs from across the region soldier on through the pandemic and continue to work hard on their solutions. We have met incredible entrepreneurs and are excited to see them competing at the regional stage for a chance to be at the Seedstars Grande Finale in 2021. We wish all the local winners the best of luck for the regional stage competition” shares Lorraine Davis, Seedstars Africa Regional Manager.

To follow the competition, you may visit the Seedstars World Competition 2020 page here: https://seedsta.rs/2HrNglF

MTN Nigeria and Gameloft have partnered to release a new gaming platform called MTN GameworldIn partnership with Gameloft, a leader in the development and publishing of games, MTN Nigeria has announced the launch of MTN Gameworld – a new gaming platform for its subscribers. The platform will offer the Nigerian gaming community access to a variety of fun and exciting games online through an extensive premium catalogue from Gameloft and other renowned publishers.

Speaking on the partnership, Chief Digital Officer, MTN Nigeria, Srinivas Rao said, “We are constantly seeking to deliver innovative products that support the aspirations of our customers, whilst delivering superior user experience. This partnership allows us to provide our customers with access to a variety of exhilarating games from Gameloft and other leading publishers at an affordable rate.”

MTN Gameworld will provide customers with an extensive choice of games, which they can play at subsidised data rates. Through the MTN Gameworld app, users can stay up-to-date with new titles that can be streamed or downloaded. It is compatible with Android, iOS and Windows phone devices providing access to unlimited fun.

Subscription is available through SMS, app, web, USSD menu (*447#), 131 USSD menu and any other MTN customer channel.

For more information, please visit: www.mtngameworld.com

The President of the Republic of Uganda, H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni finalised his scientific campaigns from the greater Moroto (Karamoja) yesterday, and while at it, he executed his duty as the head of state to launch the multi million dollar Phase Four of the National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure and eGovernment Infrastructure (NBI/EGI) in Moroto.

It cost about $85million that was injected into the project.

The launch is part of the plans of the government to make life better for the people of Karamoja and West Nile districts, by connecting the regions to the national grid, and also connect all government offices in these regions.

Phase 4 of the project has been developed and implemented under the program of the Regional Communications Infrastructure under the World Bank which also saw the build of the earlier projects or phases 1 – 3 intended to deliver a high capacity data network across the country and improve on the government service delivery.

It is also part of the plans to improve digitization in the country and increase the level of internet connectivity especially for the connected areas/districts of Moroto, Napak, Katakwi, Moyo, Yumbe, Adjumani, Koboko, Maracha, Arua, Nebbi and Pakwach that are connected to the National Back bone as of March 2020 when the project was completed.

YouTube has changed its Terms of Service and one of the shocking new changes is Youtube’s right to monetize videos from channels not big enough to be part of its Partner Program. You are definitely going to start seeing ads on videos made by smaller YouTube creators.

Youtube has gone to further clarify that new creators won’t start earning from their videos right away. The Terms of Service still state that non-Youtube Partner Program (YPP) members won’t be getting a cut from those ads.

Previously, YouTube used to only run ads on videos by YPP members. For one to become eligible for the YouTube Partner Program, a creator has to be living in a country where it’s active, has to have 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months and has to have over 1,000 subscribers.

This has not sat well with many people online who believe YouTube will be ‘using’ young creators and making money of their had sweat without offering a cut.

This also brings the possibility of competitors advertising in their competitors videos. Say for example your brand has not turned on YPP because you want you viewers to experience ad free videos without interruption. With the new ToS, YouTube can forcefully run ads on your videos.

YouTube however states that it will only roll out ads on videos is believes follow its ad-friendly guidelines

• Apple has announced the winners of their second annual Apple Music Awards, recognizing the best and boldest musicians of 2020 and their enormous impact on global culture.

The winners are chosen through a process that Apple says reflects both Apple Music’s editorial perspective and what customers around the world are loving most.

Apple Music’s global editorial team and ‘tastemakers’ choose the winners of the awards for Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and Breakthrough Artist of the Year. The awards for Top Song of the Year and Top Album of the Year are based on streaming data that is reflective of what Apple Music subscribers have been listening to this year.

In typical Apple Fashion, Apple brags that the winners will be given awards that are made from ‘Apple’s custom silicon wafer suspended between a polished sheet of glass and a machined and anodized aluminum body.

List of Apple Music Awards 2020 Winners

Artist of the Year: Lil Baby

Breakthrough Artist of the Year: Megan Thee Stallion

Songwriter of the Year: Taylor Swift

Top Song of the Year: “The Box” by Roddy Ricch

Top Album of the Year: “Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial” by Roddy Ricch