Corporate MEST Launches Incubator Spaces in Lagos & Cape Town
Pan-African entrepreneurial training program, seed fund, and incubator MEST
today announced the launch of two new Incubator spaces in Lagos,
Nigeria, and Cape Town, South Africa, as the program continues to expand
its presence across the continent. The spaces will join the flagship
headquartered in Accra, Ghana, as part of a growing Pan-African network
of MEST Incubators.
MEST Incubators in Lagos and Cape Town will act as an
extension of the Accra community, offering entrepreneurs the same
support, skilled staff, mentorship, network and resources enjoyed in
Ghana, as well as a number of curated events in an effort to bring
together the African tech community – catering to everyone from startup
founders and teams, to investors and corporate executives.
As well, the spaces will add a new pillar to the MEST
offering: co-working. Core pillars of MEST include a 1-year technology
training program in Ghana for African entrepreneurs, followed by
potential seed funding and incubation for MEST portfolio companies in
Pan-African incubator spaces. The new co-working offering will invite
local entrepreneurs to apply to join the MEST Incubator space as well,
opening the community up to startups who did not graduate from the MEST
training program.
Members of the MEST Incubator will find hot desks and
private office packages in each location, joining a curated, Pan-African
community of entrepreneurs and innovators working in technology,
venture capital, digital and media, with the goal of bringing together
the brightest minds in each field.
Following a soft launch during Lagos Startup Week, the MEST
Incubator Lagos, led by General Manager Neku Atawodi-Edun and located
at 19b Adeyemi Lawson, Ikoyi, will officially open on 21st November.
“With its 9-year track record in Ghana, we are glad to
finally see MEST expand their footprint into Nigeria,” said Lagos State
Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Mr. Tunde
Durosinmi-Etti, on the launch. “This new incubator in Nigeria’s economic
centre, Lagos, is a strategic move towards partnering with the state
government in changing the future economy of the state through its
support for new businesses, empowering millennials and providing more
jobs.”
The MEST Incubator Cape Town will launch in the former Cape
Town Garage, located in Woodstock Exchange on Albert Road, taking over
the space and welcoming the existing community. Official launch to be
celebrated on Thursday, 23rd November.
“As a South Africa-based VC, we’re thrilled about MEST’s
South African expansion,” said Andrea Böhmert, Partner &
Co-Founder, Knife Capital.
“MEST has a unique offering that combines capacity-building with access
to funding and a global network, in an effort to create globally
successful entrepreneurs. Their presence will certainly add to the
dynamic startup community in Cape Town and further fuel growth on the
continent.”
MEST Managing Director Aaron Fu notes, “We’re extremely
excited to enter the Nigerian and South African markets with the launch
of our new incubator spaces. Lagos and Cape Town are home to an enormous
amount of ambitious tech talent with massive potential. We also look
forward to welcoming companies from the larger local community to join
our Pan-African network of like-minded entrepreneurs.” Fu recently
joined the MEST team as Managing Director, from NEST.vc and Metta, both
central players in the Kenyan tech eco-system.
MEST established an initial footprint in Nigeria in 2015
and South Africa in 2016, with the first class of Nigerian and South
African Entrepreneurs-in-Training (EITs) accepted into the program.
Today, MEST is truly Pan-African, with a presence in Ghana, Nigeria,
Kenya, South Africa and Cote d’Ivoire.
MEST entrepreneurs have developed solutions addressing
local and global markets, received outside follow-on funding from global
investors, and have gained admittance to top accelerator programs such
as Y-Combinator, 500 Startups and TechStars. MEST entrepreneurs have
also been selected by President Obama as representatives of the African
business community at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C.
and have been named Mandela Washington Fellows, a flagship program of
Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). Corporate strategic
partners include Samsung, Vodafone and Facebook’s internet.org—all of which have a shared interest in bolstering the emerging tech ecosystem in Africa as means to economic growth.
Since its inception, the Meltwater Foundation has invested
$20 million into its training program, the MEST incubator network, and
early stage MEST tech startups.
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