Startups in Kenya and the regional market have an opportunity to scale up their growth in 2019 following invitation to participate in three key programs: Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) Africa scale up competition, Go-Global Africa and GrowthAfrica accelerator programmes.
Alongside Ghana, South Africa and Ivory Coast startups, Kenyan entrepreneurs will participate in the MEST competition for a chance to get Ksh5 million in equity investment and join the MEST incubator community.
MEST in partnership with pan-African training programme, seed fund will run the challenge aimed at post-revenue, tech-enabled startups that want to expand into new markets.
“This year we’re looking for the continent’s most exciting African scale-ups who are ready to expand into new markets, and continue building world class solutions for African problems,” said MEST managing director Aaron Fu.
In addition, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa startups have been invited to apply for the Go-Global Africa programme that aims to help companies establish operations in the United Kingdom (UK).
As part of this, Go Global is offering startups a unique opportunity to collaborate with the UK even as the British government plans to launch a new International Tech Hub Network in partnership with the its High Commission in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa this year.
The programme has been designed to prepare post-MVP (minimum viable product) startups for the next stage with a focus on enhancing business skills, experiential learning through peer-to-peer engagements with other startups in the UK ecosystem, and key learnings around how to think about and tackle a future global expansion.
GrowthAfrica has also provided startups in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia an opportunity to apply for an accelerator program that will improve with business acceleration, strategic advice and facilitation in access to investments.
15 entrepreneurs will be selected from each country and put through a programme with modules on things like growth strategy, financial modelling, and investment support, and featuring mentorship and networking opportunities.
