By Emeka Aginam
Thrilled by the growing start-up market in Africa, Microsoft, under the 4Afrika Initiative, has confirmed its support for the upcoming DEMO Africa event slated to hold this month in Lagos.

It would be recalled that this is the fourth time that the software giant has pledged support to the pan-African event, which provides a platform for start-ups to showcase their solutions and engage investors.

The capacity building event will be co-hosted by DEMO Africa, the Nigerian Ministry of Communication Technology and the National Information Technology Agency-Nigeria, in collaboration with LIONS@FRICA and VC4Africa.

Speaking on the on this partnership, Amrote Abdella, Director of Startup Engagement and Partnerships, Africa Initiatives at Microsoft, has stressed the importance of partnership to build an innovative ecosystem in Africa.

“By supporting the growth of startups with disruptive innovations that solve major challenges in Africa today, we are laying the foundation for the creation of globally competitiveness businesses. It opens up the opportunity to partner with various stakeholders across sectors, and at Microsoft we believe in joining forces to create a bigger and more sustainable impact.”, Abdella said.

Harry Hare, Executive Producer of DEMO Africa, welcomed the support, even as he echoed Abdella’s call for stakeholder support for technology and entrepreneurship in Africa,

“It is actions by different players that will see technology entrepreneurship effectively bringing sustainability to entrepreneurship across Africa.” , he said.

Already, top industry players including Fola Adeola, the Founder and Chairman of FATE Foundation, and the Founder and Chairman of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, have confirmed their participation.

Top industry players, including Jorn Lyseggen-MEST Founder, Harry Tomi Davies-ABAN President, Folabi Esan-Partner, Adlevo Capital, Jason Njoku-IROKO TV CEO among others will lead the discussion.

Meanwhile, no fewer than thirty disruptive technology products are expected to be launched in 12 categories including Finance and Banking, Education, Transport and Logistics, Retail, Communication and Media, and Entertainment.

More people continue to book their slots to witness the unveiling of the selected 30 start-ups. The week-long event to be hosted at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos Nigeria, is expected to attract over 500 guests including investors, IT buyers, IT consumers and media.

This year, DEMO Africa will introduce knowledge streams to delve into critical topics including Business Modelling, Scaling Businesses, Creating an Unfair Advantage, and Raising Capital.

Other notable activities at the 2015 DEMO Africa event include an investor roundtable forum and the LIONS@FRICA Summit, with the uptake of Africa-generated technology being expected to dominate the conversations.