Startup Circles, a new African online accelerator and startup school has launched to help entrepreneurs across the continent build and grow successful, commercially viable businesses.
Startup Circles CEO, Sandras Phiri says the platform will help African startups connect to quality mentorship and advice as well as investment, to drive economic recovery and growth, which is especially crucial given the current climate.
Based in South Africa, Startup Circles will help African entrepreneurs to access investors or mentors across the continent and globally. The Pan-African startup accelerator is accessible to entrepreneurs anywhere, regardless of whether they are in Lilongwe, Cape Town, Nairobi or Accra.
“Most importantly, our students gain mentorship and guidance from leading mentors and experts from around the world whom they otherwise would never have access to,” said Phiri.
Mentors on the platform include the likes of veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur, investor and author, Steve Blank; investor and best-selling author, Nir Eyal; and Sriram Krishna, whose accomplishments include serving as Head of International Growth at Tinder and Head of New Markets at Spotify.
Startup Circles mentors’ areas of expertise range from customer development, launching early-stage scalable businesses, and behavioural engineering, to building billion-dollar businesses, e-learning, establishing businesses in Africa and the US, and funding models that work for women and African entrepreneurs.
In addition to providing mentorship, they also often share their insights, advice, and experience at our regularly-held online events which are free for anyone to attend.
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Startup Circles has also partnered with a number of global investors to provide entrepreneurs with investment and honest feedback they need to get investor ready. Startup Circles students are also connected to a community of like-minded game changers. They also benefit from monthly live webinars, member-only meetups, monthly group coaching calls and $10,000 in AWS cloud credits.
Currently, the online accelerator and startup school is running four programmes for startups at various stages:
· Idea Phase 1 to help entrepreneurs bring their business idea to life;
· Startup Launch Programme for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs wanting to launch their business fast and start making money;
· Investor Readiness Programme for startups that have launched and now need to raise investment; and
· SMB Accelerate Programme to help small- or medium-sized businesses (SMBs) stand out.
“Small startups that make money and succeed become big companies that employ hundreds of people, impacting thousands more and contributing to the economies of cities and countries,” concluded Phiri.
