Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Cape Verdean startups at the Web Summit in Rio de Janeiro came with the aim of showcasing a technological country, which could be a bridge between Brazil and Africa.
“We are here to show our position on the map” of technologies and show “not only the beauties of Cape Verde, but the resilience and workforce”, Sebastian Kruse, son of a Cape Verdean father and Swedish mother, told Lusa. raised in Sweden, but recently returned to Cape Verde to proudly represent the “African diaspora”.
“We are the closest African country to Brazil”, recalled the founder of Fit CV, a physical exercise and mental health platform, on the last day of the event, on Thursday.
“I’m not here to represent myself, I’m here to represent Cape Verde” he stressed, adding that the country is focused on bringing technology companies to the islands.
Saulo Montrond also highlighted to Lusa that the “big challenge” of the Cape Verdean delegation is to showcase a technological country, with a highly qualified workforce in Africa.
“Cape Verde is known as a tourist market, a large part of our GDP [gross domestic product] comes from this sector, but we see enormous potential in technology”, he began by explaining.
“To export technology, content, we don’t need a boat or a plane. Even though Cape Verde is 10 islands spread out in the Atlantic Ocean, even though it is isolated from everything else, even the African continent, the solutions we make in Cape Verde can reach any part of the world,” he said.
Saulo Montrond is the founder of RiftOne, a recent company that already has a functional prototype, a “minicomputer that fits in the palm of your hand and can be powered by two batteries” with Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth, 4G internet, digital television.
“Monitor, keyboard, mouse and PC less than 200 euros”, he said, explaining that the objective is to get this product into the hands of the most remote communities with little access to energy and support children “without access to the internet and computers” in remote teaching situations.
The Cape Verde delegation, which included the Cape Verdean Secretary of State for Digital Economy, Pedro Lopes, sought to demonstrate over the three days of the Web Summit Rio de Janeiro a technological country that could be Brazil’s gateway to the African continent .
The characteristics of Cape Verde allow this, highlighted Pedro Lopes, in a press conference, as it is the closest African country to Brazil, in addition to the historical and cultural relationship that exists with this South American country.
“Our history is often associated with people who were enslaved. We have no taboo with our history, but we want to retell our history,” he said, adding that innovation and technology are “a tool to give strength.”
The Technological Park, which the Government plans to put into operation this year to boost the digital economy sector, will bring competitive fiscal conditions for international companies to establish themselves in Cape Verde, he said.
“We are a small country, known for tourism, but we want to rely more and more on international companies”, he said, adding that the mission involves “positioning a small country for the continent of the future”, in a continent “that is eager for change” .
“A country where people are not persecuted for the color of their skin, for their religion, for their sexuality and this makes Cape Verde a safe haven for this new youth”, he concluded.
Until Thursday, Riocentro, in Barra da Tijuca, received more than 30 thousand participants, from at least 100 countries, more than a thousand ‘startups’, around 600 investors and 600 speakers, in a structure supported by more than 210 partners and 400 volunteers, according to the organization.
The technological event, which began in 2010 in Ireland, began to be held in the Parque das Nações area, in Lisbon, in 2016 and will remain in the Portuguese capital until 2028.
The company also expanded, in addition to Rio de Janeiro, to the Middle East, with the Web Summit Qatar that took place at the beginning of this year.
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