Mozilla, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting open-source technologies and internet access, has invested $300,000 into Kenyan startups. This investment is part of a new grant-making mechanism called Mozilla African Innovation Mradi, which aims to promote innovation led by and grounded in the unique needs of African users. The partnership is in collaboration with the Nairobi City County Government, and a memorandum of understanding was signed by Alice Munyua, Senior Director of Mozilla Africa Mradi, and Johnson Sakaja, Nairobi City County Governor, to support tech-startups in Nairobi County.
The Mozilla Africa Mradi Innovation Challenge will be held in Nairobi in June, and it will identify and support Kenyan tech entrepreneurs/startups and tech-students through an acceleration programme that provides technical support, access to grants, and market access for their products. This challenge is part of Mozilla’s efforts to explore and develop new projects, technologies, and products grounded in open innovation that produce a meaningful impact on the African internet ecosystem.
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Kenya is the regional ICT hub of East Africa, with the country being a leader in broadband connectivity, general ICT infrastructure, and home to more than 300 tech start-ups. Through the Innovation Challenge, Mozilla seeks to support this ecosystem to ensure that youth innovators across Kenya have access to information and knowledge needed to establish and run profitable startups.
Governor Johnson Sakaja said Nairobi will be working with Mozilla Africa Mradi in conducting a situation analysis of all local tech-start-ups and to build capacity of tech innovators in Nairobi so as to ensure they have equal opportunities and platforms to showcase their innovations. This would ensure they are exposed to how venture capital investments work and trained on startup accelerator opportunities available to them in Africa.
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The Africa Mradi, which translates from Kiswahili as “project” or “strategy,” is a pan-Mozilla initiative fueling innovation and social justice grounded in the needs of the African digital ecosystem, from internet users to innovators.
Mozilla Kenya startups Mozilla Kenya startups
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