Catalyze 2025: African by Design – Building Local Innovations for Impact
About the Conference Series
Catalyze is a conference focused on African innovation, bringing together policymakers, entrepreneurs, creators, investors, and visionary leaders committed to catalyzing tangible, locally-driven solutions. Catalyze focuses explicitly on highlighting, amplifying, and accelerating African innovations designed to address the continent's most pressing challenges and position Africa at the forefront of global innovation.
Theme: African by Design – Building Local Innovations for Impact
“African by Design” is not just a theme, it’s a stance. It’s a call to move from reliance to resilience, from adaptation to authorship. For too long, Africa’s solutions have been seen as temporary fixes or aid-dependent experiments. Across the continent, innovators are proving that local systems rooted in community, context, and lived experience aren’t just working; they’re winning. Catalyze 2025 is a convening to learn from those successes, scale what’s working, and commit to a future where local isn’t the alternative, it’s the default.
Featured Innovation Tracks
Toward Self-Sufficient Health Systems:
Goal: Advance Africa’s ability to produce, deliver, and sustain healthcare solutions locally—reducing dependency on imports and building regionally rooted systems.
This track explores how Africa can build more resilient and self-sufficient health systems by reducing dependency on imported pharmaceuticals and infrastructure. Through new research and a showcase of ventures, we highlight bold, local solutions—from regional manufacturing to community-driven care models—that are reimagining how healthcare is delivered and sustained across the continent.
Outcomes:
Understanding of structural barriers caused by over-reliance on imports
Exposure to ventures leading in localized manufacturing and distribution
Insight into policy and ecosystem levers that can support sovereignty in healthcare
Activity Format:
Segment Host / Intro
TBC Fellow Research Presentation
Lightning Talk: Trailblazing Health Ventures
Community Roundtable
Bridging the Energy Gap:
Goal: Highlight how local innovation can overcome energy poverty and unlock productivity—especially in agriculture and rural development.
Energy access remains one of the biggest barriers to economic growth across Africa. This segment examines how local innovators are closing the power gap—especially in agriculture—by deploying homegrown, breakthrough energy solutions. Backed by research on energy poverty’s impact on productivity, we’ll spotlight ventures building the future of Africa’s power systems from the ground up.
Outcomes:
Deeper grasp of energy poverty’s ripple effect on economic outcomes
Showcasing of scalable, locally driven energy solutions
Actionable ideas for partnerships across energy, agriculture, and financing
Activity Format:
Segment Host / Intro
TBC Fellow Research Presentation
Lightning Talk: Local Energy Pioneers
Community Roundtable
Cross-Border Funding:
Goal: Show how to unlock global capital for African startups by rethinking risk, reframing narratives, and building practical investment bridges.
Unlocking capital for African founders requires new models of collaboration and smarter investment approaches. This track focuses on practical ways to overcome the barriers that limit funding flow—highlighting how investors and operators are designing cross-border capital bridges, dismantling risk narratives, and creating context-driven pathways to back African ventures at scale.
Outcomes:
Clearer understanding of capital bottlenecks and how to overcome them
Exposure to innovative funding vehicles and structures
Inspiration and tools for investors and ecosystem players to support cross-border deployment
Activity Format:
Segment Host / Intro
Lightning Talk: Capital Bridges for Local Impact
Community Roundtable
Who Should Attend?
African innovators and startups
Investors and venture capitalists
Policymakers and ecosystem enablers
Researchers, academics, and tech leaders
Diaspora professionals and strategic allies
Media Policy:
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Right to Refuse Entry Notice:
The Beta Collective organizers reserve the right to refuse entry or service to any individual at our discretion, as permitted by law. Entry may be denied for reasons including but not limited to: Disruptive, inappropriate, or unlawful behavior; Failure to comply with event policies, venue rules, or staff instructions; Safety or security concerns; Any other reason deemed necessary to maintain a safe and welcoming environment for all attendees. By attempting to enter, you acknowledge and accept these terms. If you have any questions, please contact event staff.