On 21st February, E4Impact Foundation in partnership with Nairobi Office of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and The Standard newspaper through its platform the Hustle Magazine launched the E4Impact Accelerator at the Italian Embassy of Nairobi (Kenya) on Un Crescent road Gigiri.
The E4Impact Accelerator is a program that seeks to invite applications from both formal & informal Kenyan business that are looking to be scaled up through incubation, funding and mentorship. The Accelerator is open to all sectors, but will have a preference to the Italian excellences that are relevant for the new Kenyan “Big Four Agenda” – manufacturing, universal healthcare, affordable housing, and food security. Therefore, the Accelerator will pay special attention to the following sectors: Agri food, Fashion and Design, Leather, Machinery and Equipment, Construction and affordable Housing, Healthcare, Green Business and Renewable Energy, Innovative ICT services and Infrastructures.
E4Impact Manager East Africa David Cheboryot, Director Italian Agency for Development Cooperation Teresa Savanella, Italian Ambassador to Kenya Mauro Massoni and Head of marketing at Standard Media Group Doreen Mbaya during the signing of the Hustle magazine partnership.
Distinctive characteristics of the E4Impact Accelerator include:
- Connection with Italian Businesses: each entrepreneur will be coupled with an Italian mentor with the specific aim of identifying connections with Italian businesses that can help the Kenyan entrepreneur grow his/her business;
- Focus on social and environmental impact: among the characteristics of the businesses chosen for the Accelerator, special consideration will be given to those who offer innovative solutions to social or environmental challenges;
- Access to finance: the Accelerator will possess its own pool of funds, which it will distribute in the form of seed grants to those incubated companies that qualify;
- Kibera Outreach: the Accelerator will actively recruit and will reserve two slots per year for business initiatives that come from the Kibera.
The business should be registered or to be registered in Kenya. They will be expected to meet the following criteria:
- Offer an innovative service/ product
- Post revenue with an existing customer base.
- Have a team of co- founders in place with complementary skills
- Clear social or environmental impact (special consideration will be given to those who offer innovative solutions to social or environmental challenges).
The E4Impact Accelerator will host 20 business for a period of 1 year. The selected 20 businesses will be funded, incubated, linked with international mentors in order to support their growth, increase their revenues and guide them towards profitability and impact.
The Applications from qualified businesses will open on 21st February 2018 closing on March 23rd 2018. The final 20 businesses to be selected will receive accelerator support from May 02nd 2018 to April 30 2019.
The E4Impact Accelerator main sponsor is the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation who have provided a grant for the 2 year program.
David Cheboryot
E4Impact East African Manager