Meet our MEST Africa Challenge Senegal Country Final Judges

On July 15th, 2020, the MEST Africa Challenge: Senegal finals will bring together the best and brightest entrepreneurs from around the country to pitch their startup ventures to a panel of expert judges.

Join MEST, Microsoft, and Senegalese ecosystem partner YUX Design in the search to find Senegal’s next great tech startup!

Judges for the country finals in nine different markets across the continent — Ethiopia, Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Ghana, Tanzania, Senegal, Nigeria, and South Africa, include local investors, business leaders, and community players. Here is a closeup of the MEST Africa Challenge Senegal Country Finals judges, who will select the winning pitch to make it to the MEST Africa-wide finals to compete for $50,000 in equity investment.

Aziz Sy

Founder and Host, Impact Dakar

Aziz studied International Affairs and Sustainable Development. He has been steadily involved in the Senegalese entrepreneurial scene since 2014. He was the project manager at CTIC Dakar for 2 years. He has since founded a couple of businesses within Impact Hub Dakar, an incubator trying to rebuild the local tech entrepreneurial ecosystem.

He has strong experience in entrepreneurial programs and the coaching of young entrepreneurs as well as ecosystem building through events and networking. He sees himself as a connector of people and is passionate about entrepreneurship as a human development tool and a creator of new solutions.

Mark Ihimoyan

MasterCard, Director of Business Development, Middle East & Africa

Mark is the Director of Business Development (the Middle East and Africa) at Microsoft Corporation. In this role, Mark is responsible for identifying and executing strategic business development opportunities for Microsoft in Africa. Mark was born in Nigeria and lived there for 18 years before moving to the United States for his college education. He graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology with Bachelor’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. Mark also obtained a Master’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington. A committed lifelong learner, Mark has taken business classes at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Harvard University, INSEAD, and Wharton School of Business.

He joined Microsoft 17 years ago and has held various technical, sales, and leadership roles within the company. Mark currently resides in Nairobi and is passionate about democratizing access to technology and helping people realize their full potential through technology.”

Nicolas Synnott

Investment Officer, Hummingbird Capital

Nicolas has been investing in underserved founders in Canada and Africa since 2016. He co-founded a pre-Seed fund at age 22 and has worked with entrepreneurs across Francophone and Anglophone Africa. He has been exposed to a wide array of technologies, sectors, and business models. He leverages this experience to drive pipeline development, due diligence, investment readiness, and portfolio support. Nicolas holds a degree in political science.

MEST Africa Challenge Country Finals: Senegal

Join MEST and Microsoft on July 15th for the Senegal Country Finals of the MEST Africa Challenge. The top tech startup from the Senegal finals will go on to compete against winners from eight other countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Côte D’Ivoire, South Africa, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Rwanda, for the chance to win $50,000 in equity investment and to join MEST’s Africa-wide startup support network. Register to watch at bit.ly/mestafricachallenge2020.