MEST Africa’s 2021 entrepreneurial training program is open for applications from aspiring entrepreneurs from across the African continent.
The applications are open till February 7th, 2020 for in-depth training and mentorship, a chance to break into the Pan-African tech ecosystem.
The selected applicants will join global software companies alongside successful graduates like Kweza’s Ropafadzo Musvaire, Saada’s Faderr Johm, Massira’s Samirah Maison, Cofundie’s Zahra Faye, MeQasa’s Kelvin Nyame, Amplify’s Segun Adeyemi and more.
“There are so many opportunities to make a difference through entrepreneurship and technology,” said Gugulethu Kheswa, a part of the MEST Class of 2020 from South Africa. “I have chosen to come to MEST to take the skills and work experience I have to the next level while doing something I am passionate about.”
The 2021 MEST class is targeting entrepreneurs from 14 African nations, up from 12 in the previous year.
The MEST Training Program actively recruits from five markets; Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Cote d’Ivoire. In previous years, the cohort has been made up of entrepreneurs from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Cameroon, The Gambia, Somalia, Sudan, and Mali. The Class of 2020 welcomes for the first time ever, entrepreneurs-in-training (EITs) from The Republic of Congo, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Botswana, Uganda, and Benin.
The startups will be taken through an intensive entrepreneurial training program centred around business, communication, and software development during the one-year training course delivered by global mentors who include successful entrepreneurs, CEOs and other executives from Silicon Valley, Europe, and Africa.
The program culminates in an investor pitch for seed funding and the opportunity to grow their business out of one of the Pan-African MEST incubators in Lagos, Accra, Cape Town, and Nairobi.
“The MEST Africa Training Program is proud to be the largest ideation program offered to Pan-African entrepreneurs. Bringing a diversity of founders together is the key to the success of Training Program graduates and the many accomplishments they and their companies have gone on to have,” said MEST Managing Director, Ashwin Ravichandran.
“This year, we are working have our most diverse class yet, focusing on growing our current 14 country representation to even more across the African continent.”
“MEST Africa believes talent is everywhere, but the opportunity is not. By working with some of the continent’s most motivated entrepreneurs, the MEST Training Program is a pivotal part of their journey providing training, and as their ideas form into full-fledged startups, the opportunity for MEST Seed Funding and support through joining one of the MEST Incubators.”
Establishing and expanding its presence on the continent over the past 10 years, MEST has now invested over $22 million in training nearly 400 individual entrepreneurs and invested in 60+ early-stage software companies from across Africa. MEST entrepreneurs have been admitted to top accelerator programs such as Y-combinator, 500 startups, and TechStars.
Some MEST portfolio successes include South Africa’s Qisimah, Ghana’s Codeln, Jumeni, Leti Arts, Truckr, Asoriba, SynCommerce and meqasa. Nigeria’s Kudobuzz and Amplify.Applications for the class of 2021 close February 7, 2020
