On January 30, 2019, at the E4Impact Accelerator headquarters in Karen, Nairobi, the first financial contributions were delivered to some of the 20 companies participating to the accelerator program started in June 2018. In total, almost 40 million Kenyan shillings (about 34,000 Euros) were allocated to 7 of the companies that took part in this first group.
Supported by the accelerator mentors, every entrepreneur participating in the Accelerator Pitching Day had seven minutes to give an overview of his/her business, past performances and future objectives and explain the request for funding. At the end of each presentation, a panel of five members from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) office in Nairobi, the National Environmental Trust Fund, Grand Challenges Africa, NetBizImpact and Victoria Venture had 5 minutes to interact with the entrepreneurs to better understand different aspects of the business activities and give them feedbacks.
During this event, in the spirit of “triple-helix” interaction between public, private and research sectors, a philanthropic investment fund was activated with the entire support of ENI. This investment fund will be a further E4Impact Accelerator’s service, that will support the business ideas with the highest growth potential. The second round of the Accelerator Pitching Day, with another funds allocation, is scheduled for March 2019.