Africa Startup Initiative Programme Accelerator Launches for African Tech Startups

Telecel Group launched an Africa Startup Initiative Program (ASIP) for young entrepreneurs in all areas of technology related innovation to participate in Telecel Group booth at the most prestigious event for telecom and technology in the World – the MWC in Feb 2019 – Barcelona. Now Telecel Group’s subsidiary Africa Startup Initiative Programme has partnered with Startupbootcamp AfriTech to launch the Africa Startup Initiative Programme Accelerator.

Telecel Group is a telecom firm established in 2007, very well recognized for the quality and effectiveness of the telecom solutions and services that they offer to a multitude of mobile network operators across the globe, in addition to owning networks of their own all across Africa. So the newly launched accelerator aims to recognise and assist early-stage African startups in the fields relating to telecom and technology. 

Corporates who join as Founding Partners will reap significant benefits through access to the most disruptive startups on the African continent. The partners in the first SBC AfriTech Accelerator engaged in more than 60 pilots, POC’s, and commercial contracts with 29 startups over the last 3 years. These startups were selected from more than 4,500 applicants representing 80 countries. 90 per cent of the alumni are still operating and growing, and 40 per cent have raised follow-on investment rounds.   

Eleanor Azar, Executive Board Deputy of Telecel Global comments on the launch of the new accelerator. 

“Telecel is committed to expanding the tech ecosystem and we will help startups to scale by providing industry expertise and access to markets across our networks. We are very excited to partner with Startupbootcamp AfriTech to leverage their expertise and access to the most disruptive startups on the African continent. Telecel strongly believes in collaboration and we look forward to working with Innovative Corporate Partners as part of this Consortium.”

Philip Kiracofe, CEO of Startupbootcamp AfriTech added:

“SBC pioneered the concept of multi-corporate backed accelerators, and starting in 2017, we proved that Corporate Startup Collaboration in Africa can yield extraordinary results. We are honoured to have Telecel as the anchor partner and are looking for Companies on the forefront of their industries to join as Founding Partners.”

The Africa Startup Initiative Programme Accelerator

The accelerator is focusing on early-stage startups in the following sectors; fintech, insurtech, agritech, eCommerce, healthtech, and cleantech. Participating startups will be provided access to markets via Telecel’s mobile services, executive mentors, commercial contracts, and more. The overall aim is to help early-stage tech and telecom startups scale their business model. 

The ASIP Accelerator Program, powered by Startupbootcamp AfriTech, intends to start scouting within the next month and the corporate Founding Partners will help determine the key focus areas of the startup applicants. Corporate Partners are also invited to join the selection committee which determines the final 10 startups that participate in the three-month ASIP Accelerator Program. This is a unique opportunity to bring startup innovation into your organisation, and SBC AfriTech will help facilitate successful pilot projects with your organization.