The Harvard-AWS Accelerator Program has accepted eleven student-run African startups

11 of the 25 startups chosen by the Harvard Innovation Labs and Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the first NextGen Accelerator are African.

Early-stage student entrepreneurs from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and universities in Sub-Saharan Africa can participate in the NextGen Accelerator, a two-week founder boot camp.

Every day, founders participate in seminars at the Harvard Innovation Labs that address a variety of topics, including customer research, market validation, pitching, fundraising, and leadership skills.

“We are thrilled to welcome student founders from colleges and universities across Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and the US to Boston,” said Matt Segneri, Bruce and Bridgitt Evans executive director of the Harvard Innovation Labs. “These students are working on a wide range of inspirational products and services, and we look forward to seeing all they accomplish both during the NextGen Accelerator and beyond.”

The Schultz Family Foundation has provided funding to the 25 participating ventures to help with accommodation, food, and travel costs.

AWS will give NextGen Accelerator participants access to AWS specialists and $5,000 in AWS credits as part of their goal to expand the number of black and other underrepresented founders in the startup ecosystem. 

Here are the 11 startups chosen for the 2023 NextGen Accelerator:

Ghana

The agritech startup FeatheryCare (University of Ghana),

The producer of organic soil booster Sabon Sake (Ashesi University),

The mobile wallet Hurupay (Ashesi University),

The farmer financing solution LbH LC (University of Ghana).

Kenya

The parking app Parksby (from the University of Nairobi),

The e-health business AfyaBridge,

The health-tech company Tawi Digital Health (also from the University of Nairobi).

Rwanda

HiQ Africa, a Rwandan logistics startup (African Leadership University),

South Africa

Puno, a South African fintech company (University of the Witwatersrand),

Tanzania

Smartdarasa, a Tanzanian augmented reality startup (University of Dar es Salaam),

Nigeria

Acceede, a Nigerian payments platform (Federal University of Technology).

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