14 entrepreneurs made it to the Unreasonable Institute and Kenya’s M-Prep is among them.
Toni and Kago need our help to give them 50 mentors, 30 funds, and 100’s of investors. M-Prep did their part, among the 227 start-ups from 47 countries that applied to the Unreasonable Institute, M-Prep was vetted among the top 14 after three months and three rounds of vetting to attend this year’s Unreasonable Institute.
The Unreasonable Institute says, “They’ve outlasted more than 200 other candidates, proven their integrity, humility, and thoroughness, and been validated by experts in their domains and geographies. And now, to afford the opportunity Unreasonable Institute offers them, they need help raising the costs of attending.”
M-Prep, just like other ventures must raise $12,000 to cover their tuition and $4,000 more for travel and stuff and you are the sponsor.
You as the sponsor will make the cost affordable and allow entrepreneurs attend the Unreasonable Institute. To meet their full tuition costs and secure the chance to work with 50-world class mentors, forge relationships with 30 impact investment funds, pitch to one hundred investors, get 6-weeks of food and lodging, and build an ever-growing network of fellow Unreasonable entrepreneurs for the rest of their lives without having to pay a dime themselves.
Image from:www.sandbox-network.com
The marketplace was open January 29th and runs for 31 days!
KopoKopo‘s Ben Lyon, an Unreasonable Fellow told TechMoran,”I did attend the original Unreasonable Institute in Boulder. Overall, it’s a great experience — kind of a “mini MBA”. We learned the basics of fundraising, team building, market, etc.”
So he hopes Toni and Kago will learn much, network and have fun too.
Unreasonable Institute gets world-changing ventures and entrepreneurs the energy to scale their impact. It brings together 10-30 entrepreneurs or Unreasonable Fellows from just anywhere for six weeks in Boulder, Colorado, living under one roof. Different from Big Brother, the “entrepreneurs receive customized training and support from 50 world-class mentors, ranging from a Time Magazine Hero of the Planet, to the head of user experience at Google X, to an entrepreneur who’s enabled over 20 million farmers to move out of poverty.”
According to the Institute, “The Unreasonable Fellows form relationships with corporations and international organizations, receive legal advice and design consulting, and get in front of hundreds of potential funders”. The institute’s goal is to bring resources to accelerate their ventures “so they can scale to meet the needs of at least one million people each.”
For the first time ever the Institute is open to teams, and will run this year from June 12 to July 24 and be jealous applications for the 2014 Institute open September this year. But you have less than 25 days to sponsor them.
You can visit MPrep in Nairobi at the m:Lab, but that is not important.
Speaking to TechMoran, Toni said, ” This amazing accelerator will enable MPrep to exponentially increase its reach outside of Kenya to the rest of Africa and beyond. Contribute, tweet, post, pin, and spread the word.”
Their contribution page is here: http://marketplace.unreasonableinstitute.org/campaign/detail/829.And you must have heard of M-Pesa, also bred here in Nairobi. You can also contribute via M-Pesa by using the Pay Bill option. Enter the Business number 531300, enter the Account name MPREP. Then enter the amount, your secret M-Pesa PIN and Send them to the Institute!
Unreasonable at Sea
After sending Toni and team, there is Uganda’s UpEnergy, selling high energy-efficient cookstoves (sigiri’s) which needs $6K to meet its need. Tanzania’s VoltZon is sorted just wish them well.
Milcah Lukhanyu covers daily news briefs at TechMoran. She is the person who will probably read your press release and get the story out of it or totally trash it.
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