HEC Paris takes action against the pandemic in Africa and launches "Hacking Covid-19 Africa"

HEC Paris announces the launch of Hacking Covid-19 Africa, an event entirely dedicated to the African continent, which will take place from 19 to 21 June 2020.

This online event was born from the collaboration of a group of students and young graduates from HEC Paris, concerned about the future of their countries and who wanted to have a positive influence on the African continent. 

Its vocation is to mobilize project leaders and participants from all horizons to reflect together on the post-crisis situation in Africa, to propose innovative solutions and to bring ambitious answers to the many challenges that need to be addressed in the situation of economic and health crisis caused by Covid-19.

Open to all, Hacking Covid-19 Africa aims at creating a favourable framework for these solutions to be collectively elaborated. Thus, start uppers, associations, developers, designers or engineers will meet during 3 days to reflect and set up new initiatives answering the priority stakes of the African continent: health, economy, communities, education, institutions and environment.

HEC Paris encourages and supports this initiative which benefits from the support of its community and network, both in France and in Africa, in conjunction with the Abidjan Office for West and Central Africa and the 14 HEC Paris chapters in Africa (South Africa, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tunisia).

The academic partners of HEC Paris in Africa – Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique in Morocco, the Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Côte d'Ivoire and the business school of the University of Cape Town in South Africa – have spontaneously joined this initiative, which they actively support, as do many companies established on the continent.

"We are very attached to the African dimension of this event. The participants will have to propose projects adapted to the African context, quickly transposable and responding to urgent issues. With my fellow students, we are very happy to be able to mobilize the vital forces of the African continent and to associate to this event all those who wish to reflect together on the future of Africa, in these very particular times of pandemic", explains Justin Lock Bang, one of the initiator of the project, a young Cameroonian entrepreneur, co-founder of Kamix, who graduated from HEC Paris 2018 in digital business.

"With this important event, HEC Paris is strengthening its commitment to Africa and is committed to working alongside the young, mobilized and enthusiastic African generation. We bring to students carrying out projects the reputation and expertise of HEC Paris and its network, a framework that is favourable for the event to take place in the best conditions. I would like to congratulate them for their audacity, creativity and the tremendous energy they have deployed to make this event, rich in potential, come to fruition. The future of the African continent is up to them to write it", said François Collin, International Director of HEC Paris.

Various prizes will be awarded to the winners (financial support, business creation assistance, incubation, online training, mentoring...) and offered by universities and companies firmly established on the African continent, including: Orange, KPMG, VISA.

Participants are invited to register today on https://www.hackingcovid19africa.com

Press contact: Julie Dobiecki - +33 6 37 39 62 99 – dobiecki@hec.fr