AiDiA Pitch 2022
3 September 2022
First Afro-German Startup Pitch
The Miralles Saal in Hamburg experienced a special premiere on 3 September. For the first time, AiDiA opened its stage, where Black founders and their ideas took centre stage.
The AiDiA Pitch wowed the audience of startup enthusiasts and representatives from the Black community with exciting pitches, thrilling entertainment, exciting networking opportunities and generous prize money totalling €53,000. The evening was held under the motto "Celebrating Black Excellence" and lived up to it with an excellent jury of industry experts, an inspiring opening speech by Green politician Priscilla Owusekun-Wilms and a captivating competition.
Congratulations to Ohemaa Green Housing for an outstanding performance and 1st place in the founder pitch category.
Congratulations also to ISOPTERRA and victory in the Idea Pitch category.
The 2022 event
Our first pitch event in pictures
The Startups 2022
Founder pitch
Idea pitch
Our jury 2022
Kave Bulambo
Isaiah Brinkmann
Irène Kilubi
Ìskender Dirik
Simon Usifo
Kave Bulambo
Kave Bulambo is the founder of MyCareerPath, a career coaching platform and is an expert in leadership, HR development, diversity and inclusion. She is also the founder of TalentDiverse, a recruiting platform that connects talent with organisations that value diversity, equality and inclusion.
Isaiah Brinkmann
In 2016, Jesaja Brinkmann swapped his lab coat for app development. The physician is now one of the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe 2021. Cara Care - the platform for gut health is one of the top digital health companies and is growing rapidly thanks to multi-million investments from industry giants such as Johnson & Johnson Innovations and Atlantic Labs. With his expertise in the digital health sector, the Co-Founder & Co-CEO is the perfect fit for our expert jury.
Irène Kilubi
Irène Kilubi, who has received several awards, is an expert in innovation strategies. After working for companies such as BMW, Amazon and Deloitte, the entrepreneur has now realised herself with her passion project JOINT GENERATIONS and brandPreneurs & brandfluencers.
Ìskender Dirik
At the age of 21, Ìskender Dirik founded his first company and has since travelled the digital world as a startup founder, manager/CEO and venture capital investor. As co-founder of the non-profit organisation 2Hearts, Ìskender actively advocates for more diversity in the tech industry and understands the importance of diversity in business.
Simon Usifo
As President & Managing Director, Simon Usifo is responsible for the European business of the internationally renowned creative agency 72andSunny. Prior to this, the advertising manager worked for Ogilvy in London, Shanghai and Berlin, among other places. He was born in the Rhineland and is the son of a French mother and a Nigerian father.
The 2022 line-up
Alexandra Antwi-Boasiako
Alexandra was our presenter for the evening. She combines her passion and fascination for visionary ideas and trends in various event formats. She focusses in particular on the vibrant start-up landscape.
Luna Simao
Luna Simao
Luna Simao is a German pop and R&B singer and accompanied us with her music on 3 September.
Daniel Abozen
Daniel Abozen
Daniel Abozen is a spoken word artist. He set the mood for the event with his content.
Bashey'Z
Bashey'Z
The Bashey'Z are an Afrobeats band that got us dancing with their cool live music.
DJ Balance
DJ Balance
DJ Balance entertained us with the latest Afrobeats music throughout the event.