By Diplomacy Journal Kayla Lee

The final participating teams of the '2025 Korea-Africa Startup Competition' visited Nairobi, Kenya, for a week-long local bootcamp from November 7 to 14, the Korea-Africa Foundation said.

During the bootcamp, the teams visited various relevant organizations, including Kenyan unicorn startup M-Pesa, fintech startup Pezesha, the Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency (a government organization), and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

This provided an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the Kenyan business ecosystem and explore market entry opportunities. Notably, the teams participated in over four business-matching sessions each, tailored to their startup items and needs, successfully finding direct collaboration opportunities and driving outcomes.

Based on these efforts, the participating teams signed a total of seven MoUs and NDAs on site and achieved export results through immediate on-the-spot contracts.

Furthermore, they plan to continue knocking on the door of the Kenyan market through future POCs (Proofs of Concept) and follow-up meetings.