Calling on entrepreneurs in the Southern African Development Cooperation (SADC) region the TechTribe Accelerator (TTA) is taking to the streets on a roadshow. The TTA first roadshow event took place in Lilongwe, Malawi on September 24.
During October the TTA Roadshow will launch at BongoHive in Zambia – 22 October; at BuniHub in Tanzania on 24 October with events in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa to follow – stay tuned to the social media channels where full details will be released as Facebook Events
At the heart of the TTA is the social and tech entrepreneur, where securing investment opportunities is typically one of the top three challenges. Similarly, on the investor side, there is a perceived lack of investable opportunities.
TechTribe Accelerator launched its applications for the 2020 free cohort at the SA Innovation Summit on the 13th of September as a new online training platform. Applications close on the 15th of November 2019.
The TTA is born of the need to bring pan-African ecosystem partnerships together to solve continental issues at scale, particularly in the entrepreneur acceleration world.
Acceleration services for tech-enabled ventures are not widely accessible, particularly outside major centres and the cost of running a traditional accelerator per participant is high. “Given this, how do we accelerate the founder’s journey so that they go further in the shorter amount of time?” – Buntu Majaja, TTA Project Manager.
The solution lies in building a pipeline of investment-ready social entrepreneurs that can meet the growth of impact and investment funds in Africa. This is where the TTA makes a call for entrepreneurs across the region to apply.
The TTA is made up of three layers:
Content – a set of investment readiness modules with each module forming a piece of the investment case, which gets translated into an effective and validated pitch deck.
Mentorship – 30 promising entrepreneurs to receive one-on-one virtual mentorship from mentors that have walked the journey.
Tribe – a network with a common purpose, expanding impact through collaboration.
According to SA Innovation Summit Chairperson, Dr Audrey Verhaeghe, “The TTA is the first real attempt to educate, accelerate and connect SADC based impact and tech entrepreneurs regionally, and develop a digital enabled tribe.” This tribe is an investment-ready pipeline being developed at scale.
The TTA is an opportunity for:
Post-revenue tech-enabled and IP driven ventures whose core business has a social or environmental purpose
Experienced founders and business people, who want to support businesses that are driving the SDG agenda on the continent, by sharing their expertise as mentors;
Ecosystem partners, such as hubs, incubators, accelerators and universities, that already supporting entrepreneurship development but would like to extend their current reach;
Investors, looking for viable investment opportunities on the African continent
Startups who are interested but cannot make it to the roadshow venues are encouraged to apply for the accelerator on the TTA website.
Applications are open until 15 November at: https://www.techtribeaccelerator.com
The initiative is a result of funding by the SAIS2 (Southern African Innovation Support) Programme, and involves collaboration between Impact Amplifier, MHub Malawi, SA Innovation Summit, and NEPAD’s Southern African Network for Biosciences (SANBio).
About the Southern Africa Innovation Support Programme (SAIS 2):
The Southern Africa Innovation Support Programme (SAIS 2) is a regional initiative that supports the growth of new businesses through strengthening innovation ecosystems and promotion of cross-border collaboration between innovation role-players in Southern Africa. SAIS 2 is supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Finland, in partnership with the Ministries responsible for Science, Technology and Innovation of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat. (https://www.saisprogramme.org/)
About Impact Amplifier:
Impact Amplifier accelerates the growth and capital provision of high impact, innovative social enterprises in Africa. (https://www.impactamplifier.co.za/)
About the Malawi Innovation Hub (MHub):
Malawi Innovation Hub (MHub) leverages the power of technology to train and empower entrepreneurs, innovators and upcoming techies to build solutions and businesses that solve problems in society and the world. (http://www.mhubmw.com/)
About the SA Innovation Summit:
The SA Innovation Summit is an annual flagship event on the African innovation calendar. It provides a platform for nurturing, developing and showcasing African innovation, as well as facilitating innovation thought-leadership. Created to support and promote innovation and facilitate collaboration, the event brings together entrepreneurs, investors, corporates, academia and policymakers from 32 countries to accelerate innovation and inspire sustained economic growth across Africa. (https://innovationsummit.co.za/)
About SANBio:
The Southern Africa Network for Biosciences (SANBio) is a Programme of NEPAD and shared biosciences research, development and innovation platform for working collaboratively to address some of Southern Africa’s key biosciences issues in health, nutrition and health-related intervention areas such as agriculture and environment. (https://www.nepadsanbio.org/)
For more information:
Please email Buntu Majaja, TechTribe Accelerator Project Manager hello@techtribeaccelerator.com
Kind Regards