New Venture Competition

Nigeria’s digital publisher, Publiseer, has been announced as one of the 14 finalists of the 2018 Harvard Business School’s New Venture Competition, taking place in Boston, MA, United States, on March 2, 2018. The Africa Business Club at Harvard Business School will be hosting the competition to showcase the diversity of entrepreneurs making a difference on the continent today. The competition will be held along with the 20th Africa Business Conference under the theme “Values And Value-Chains: Africa In A New Global Era”.

From the pool of applications, 14 finalists have been invited to pitch their business in front of approximately 700 attendees and receive feedback from a panel of experienced judges. The judges include Samuel Alemayehu of Cambridge Industries, Steven Koltai of Koltai & Company, and Josh Sandler of Lori Systems. The winner and the runner-up of the competition will be awarded cash prices of $10,000 and $5,000 respectively.

Publiseer and other finalists will have the opportunity to participate in the Startup Lab, a workshop for early-stage entrepreneurs to solicit advice from conference participants. Conference participants and Harvard Business School faculty and students with experience in strategy, operations, finance, and other relevant business fields will be recruited to engage with the entrepreneurs and help them ideate and solve their problems.

Publiseer is a digital publishing platform for independent Nigerian authors and artistes. The platform distributes and monetizes the creative works of Nigerian writers and musicians worldwide. With over 130 writers and musicians under Publiseer, Publiseer is one of the largest independent digital publishers in Africa.

Photo: 2018 Conference Co-Chairs: Afua Ahwoi & Aminata Ly