With a rapidly growing population, increasing urbanisation and spending power in Africa’s top 18 cities estimated to reach $1.3 trillion by 2030, opportunities for new technology and services are abundant in Africa.
However not all new ideas can get off the ground easily in Africa for various reasons such as scarcity of funding, limited experience of founders or lack of partnerships needed to grow at an early stage. FFWDAfrica is the UK’s first, Africa-focused tech accelerator aiming to support UK businesses to unlock Africa’s technology opportunities.
Eunice Ball, Co-founder of FFWDAfrica explains “Our aim is to harness UK technology, innovation and funding to solve challenges in Africa, while linking the UK and Africa innovation ecosystems to unlock opportunities for both economies and create technology solutions that drive change.”
FFWDAfrica is planning to do this with at a “three step programme which is designed to support UK entrepreneurs from idea inception, through to piloting, implementation and growth” explains Ball. The first step in this process is the “FFWDAfrica idea pre-accelerator, where we will be working with new ventures in developing African business ideas, with expert mentorship and coaching over an 8 week period”.
Start-ups can then apply for the FFWDAfrica accelerator program which will launch in early 2016, with selected start-ups receiving funding, office space and mentorship to build their solutions and grow their business.
As the UK’s first African Tech Accelerator, “interest has already been incredible and we are in discussions with investors, sponsors and partners in the UK and Africa who see the potential growth”
