The Pan-African training program which also doubles as a seed fund and incubator; Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) has announced seven start-ups that will receive $700,000 in funding as part of its plan to celebrate its 10th anniversary of investing in African tech start-ups.
Based in Accra, Ghana, MEST became one of the earliest tech incubators in Africa in 2008.
However, the start-ups were picked from across Africa including; Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Cote d’Ivoire and each start-up receives $100,000 as well as support and mentorship from MEST.
These start-ups were selected after completing MEST’s 12-month training program.
MEST is part of Meltwater, the global social media monitoring firm. Founder and CEO Jorn Lyseggen started it with $15,000 in Norway in 2001; and it’s now believed to be a $300-million a year business.
“It’s been an exhilarating ride scaling MEST in Africa and this year has absolutely reaffirmed my conviction that MEST is truly unique in Africa in both approach and perspective.” MEST Managing Director Aaron Fu told Forbes.
“Our primary pathway to both our incubators and our seed fund uniquely begins pre-idea and pre-team, we equip our Entrepreneurs-In-Training (EITs) with a baseline of skills and industry exposure both most importantly with a cohort of 59 other handpicked individuals driven to create Pan-African, if not global, technology businesses. We also de-risk a year of learning and testing with a full scholarship and rigorous, practical curriculum.”
The start-ups range from a fintech platforms for small business, an on-demand storage marketplace, a cargo booking platform and a technical recruitment service for programmers.
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