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Entries have now opened for
the second stream of #SurulereStartups - where 10 young people running
businesses 1 – 3 years old will be selected for an 8-week televised boot camp. 3
winning businesses will win access to over $150,000 in cash, media inventory
and business incubation.
“#SurulereStartups is the
first stream of the #StartupsAfrica project, which is a community-based
enterprise programme that kicked off in April 2014,” said Remi Ogunkayo,
an alumnus of the programme and Project Manager. “Here, young born-and-bred
Nigerian entrepreneurs will be trained, mentored and supported to ensure they
survive and grow. Our mandate is to help start-ups across African
communities with training, access to funding and ancillary services.”
The first edition of
#SurulereStartups held from April – June 2014 and involved 10 young
entrepreneurs from in and around Surulere (Lagos, Nigeria) trained and mentored
on Financing, Access to Markets, People Management, Business Planning and
Marketing, amongst others.
The second edition takes
that model and aggressively expands it, with a network of mentors and business
coaches working actively with 10 entrepreneurs over an 8-week period. The 10
businesses must demonstrate a high-growth potential to be selected.
The boot camp will end
with the participants presenting 5-year business strategies to a judging panel
of respected business leaders. The top 3 entrepreneurs will get access to
$15,000 in cash, $100,000 in media inventory (TV, radio, print and online) and
$40,000 in business incubation including user/market testing, office space, connectivity,
marketing support and administration. This package will include one-year access
to funds, mentors and networks.
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“This
started as an informal passion project of mine, supported by our media group
RED,” said media entrepreneur Chude Jideonwo, named b
“However,
the incredible feedback from the participants and the connections their
businesses made inspired us to take this further and deepen the impact – and so
we have spent the past few months structuring it into a proper business
incubator. As a media company, we have also brought in a very important media
element to ensure that beyond the 10 candidates, thousands of young people are
able to access the knowledge and resources from the boot camp.”
After a 30-month period, #StartupsAfrica
will be presented by the non-government organization The Future Project as an
impact study for building youth-led enterprise and creating jobs
community-by-community across the continent.
To
qualify, participating entrepreneurs must be
i)
aged 35 and
below,
ii)
must be
African in origin,
iii)
should have
a business either based in/around Surulere or with a founder who grew up in /around
Surulere (Yaba, Ijeshatedo, Mushin, Shomolu)
iv)
must own
Nigeria-based businesses below $30,000 in annual turnover.
To
apply, send an email to www.startupsafri.ca now and click 'Apply' or send your responses to
the questions to office@startupsafri.ca.
Applications
end on Friday, 10 October 2014, and shortlisted candidates will be invited for
a Business Defense interview.
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