The Multichoice Africa Accelerator Programme, which disbursed $16 million in funding to six emerging tech businesses last year, is expanding to eight more African countries.
According to a statement from Multichoice, the countries being added as beneficiaries of the programme are Ivory Coast, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, Angola, and Ethiopia.
The MultiChoice Africa Accelerator Programme, which started in South Africa in 2020, is an initiative of the MultiChoice Innovation Fund, in collaboration with Dubai-based business incubator Companies Creating Change (C3), which gives entrepreneurs access to the tools, skills, and financial support necessary to grow their businesses.
MultiChoice has also partnered with EOH, a tech services company who will bring their expertise to the table in terms of tech advisory, development sprint, and technical support.
The first phase of the MultiChoice Africa Accelerator Programme invites nominations of businesses or entrepreneurs for the programme from public and private-sector partners in each country. Subsequently, 29 selected startups embark on a virtual training course. The initiative is aimed at established businesses that are already operating and looking to scale up by attracting further investment.
The virtual training course takes place over several weeks, teaching startup owners media skills, how best to market their businesses to investors, create attractive business plans, and tailor their proposals to investor requirements.The programme then culminates in a pitch day where 11 startups are selected to pitch their solutions to international investors.
“We believe SMEs in the technology, sustainability and creative sectors will be fundamental to the next phase of Africa’s growth. The MultiChoice Africa Accelerator is geared to finding the most promising start-ups, and empowering them to play this critical role,” said Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice Group CEO.
