Founders Café, an accelerator that supports technology startups to become great companies, hosted season one of its accelerator program in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
The program was aimed at accelerating, nurturing and investing in early stage tech start-ups that have the potential to become scalable and competitive ventures in the tech space in the Abuja environs.
The accelerator program, tagged #AbujaStartUps, provided a rigorous, comprehensive company-building prospectus to guide startup founders through validating their products, developing customer experience maps, building a formidable team, preparing for funding, and more.
The prospectus contained vital ingredients such as innovation strategy and design thinking; developing practical digital marketing strategies for tech startups; exploring brand interpretation and differentiation; exploring startup laws and new venture financing; developing business models and startup Pitch models for techpreneurs, and team bonding.
The program included coaching and feedback sessions led by top startup coaches and mentors, online chat groups group meetings with fellow founders, and challenging company building exercises which is poised to help startup founders make considerable progress in the coming years.
Some of the 20 startups that participated in the week-long program are listed below.
- YourTaxiNow – a mobile taxi booking platform.
- MealOnClick – an online food service delivery service.
- DayNight – an online event directory platform.
- SpaceRoom – an online event space booking solution for brides.
- Instant Energy – a mobile electricity top up solution for Nigerians.
- PiTv – an entertainment gadget solution for university students.
- Logistica – a mobile shared ride booking service for Abuja and environs.
- NeedleIt – an online fashion mall for all brands.
- Solutek – Application Programming Interface Sales & Bulk SMS solution.
- Edulink – a portal for educational orientation for SSCE students.
- CreditMe – a real time deposit payment system for traders.
After the completion of the accelerator program, the startup founders were awarded certificates of participation, amongst other things.
The startup founders from the accelerator program will pitch at a yet-to-be-announced date, with selected startups qualifying for access to seed funds provided by Founder Café’s sources and a US$25,000 grant provided by the National Information Technology Development Agency.
The accelerator program was sponsored by the Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE) of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
Founders Café was founded by 2014 graduate of Innovation and Strategy at Harvard Extension School, Isioma Idemudia, who alongside Andela’s co-founder, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and media marketing consultant, ’Segun SEGA Awosanya were mentors for the accelerator program.
Here are some pictures from the event.
