New investors are becoming interested in Ethiopia as the country in East Africa continues to open up for foreign business. Recent interest has come from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and MultiChoice Africa, both of which have started their own accelerator designed to assist startups in their journeys.
MultiChoice Africa Accelerator
Ethiopia now receives support from MultiChoice Africa’s tech startup accelerator programme.
After a successful launch in South Africa, where it accelerated six firms, the DSTV operator expanded its initiative to Ethiopia and seven other African nations. During this time, it raised $16 million in capital for these startups.
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The entertainment company claims that the 2023 initiative now offers even more small businesses in Africa’s technology industry the possibility to gain from it.
In South Africa, the MultiChoice Accelerator Program was launched last year with the goal of assisting existing start-ups and small businesses in a variety of technology-related fields, such as health tech, agritech, fintech, edtech, the circular economy, and the creative industries.
The Accelerator is also growing to Ivory Coast, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, and Angola in addition to Ethiopia.
The initiative gives aspiring business owners the tools they need to raise capital, expand their operations, and give presentations to foreign investors.
The Program, a project of the MultiChoice Innovation Fund and Companies Creating Change (C3), a business incubator based in Dubai, provides entrepreneurs with the resources, know-how, and financial backing they require to expand their enterprises.
During the program’s initial phase, partners from the public and private sectors in each country nominate businesses or entrepreneurs. After that, selected startups begin a demanding online training course.
The project is aimed at already-running, established startups that want to grow by luring more investment.
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The multi-week online training course teaches startup business owners how to effectively use the media, pitch their ventures to investors, produce attractive business plans, and understand what potential investors are looking for.
Eleven start-ups will be chosen for the final pitch round when the entrepreneurs reunite later on at a finals event. To learn how to craft their story for foreign investors and to get “pitch ready” before their major presentations, they will participate in a dedicated C3 boot camp.
Six young African tech companies received $16 million in funding from the MultiChoice Accelerator last year during the Dubai Expo 2020.
JICA Accelerator Programme
In a similar vein, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MinT) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are inviting Ethiopian innovators to apply for a chance to take part in an acceleration programme and pitch competition. The winners will travel to Japan for a delegation programme and receive 500,000 birr in equity-free funding.
Ethiopia’s 120 million people are anticipated to be close to 70% under the age of 30, making the nation primed for economic growth through innovation and startups, according to the UN World Population Prospects 2022.
In light of this, the Ethiopian branch of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), in partnership with the Ethiopian Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MinT), is calling on aspiring business owners to submit applications for the “Next Innovation with Japan (NINJA) Acceleration Program in Ethiopia 2022” competition.
As part of “Project NINJA (Next Innovation with Japan),” JICA and MinT offer a number of programmes to support companies in Ethiopia. In addition to checking out that website, more information can be found in this video.
The ten-month acceleration programme and pitch competition, which are being implemented in collaboration with Renew Capital, are intended to improve and enhance the environment for startups by assisting entrepreneurs in obtaining training, enhancing access to funding, and connecting them with vital resources to actualize their business plans.
“One of the main objectives of Project NINJA is to encourage innovations in solving the prominent problems of society by utilizing emerging technologies. Innovative startups contribute significantly to economic growth and employment nationwide,” explained JICA “It also helps develop new and innovative solutions to challenges faced by traditional industries through cross-sector innovation, thereby creating a more dynamic and competitive society.”
The NINJA Accelerator Program staff will review applications in January 2023 in order to choose the 30 startups for the first round of screening. These chosen startups will spend one week gaining fundamental training in idea pitching before delivering those proposals to a panel of judges. If the second round of interviews and in-person and online workplace visits are conducted by the assessors, a total of 15 startups from this round will move on to the next stage of the competition.
The six startups will then be selected by the evaluators for the intensive accelerator programme, which will employ best practises from other successful accelerator programmes, assist the startups in forming partnerships and/or business networks, increase their capacity and entrepreneurial acumen, and address baseline needs.
The six accelerated businesses will then deliver their final proposals during a Final Pitch Event at the end of June 2023 to a large group of local and international investors, as well as representatives from the governments of Ethiopia and Japan, local stakeholders, and media outlets (demo day). Upon submission of two reports, the final six startups will get a payout of ETB 500K each. The money will be utilised to improve their minimum viable product even further. They will also have the opportunity to receive training in Japan and interact with mentors and prospective investors there.
Please see the APPLICATION LINK for more information on eligibility requirements and how to apply for consideration if you are the founder of an innovative startup that is (a) legally registered and running a business in Ethiopia; (b) has a tech-enabled product; © has a clear and focused business plan; (d) has a desire to scale operations; (e) is seeking expansion capital; and (f) is coachable and willing to learn.
The application will go live on Monday, December 5 and close at 5:00 PM or 11:00 a.m. local time on Monday, December 26.
Accelerator Ethiopia Multichoice JICA Accelerator Ethiopia Multichoice JICA Accelerator Ethiopia Multichoice JICA
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh