South African entrepreneurs can now join Accra-based MEST

Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) is calling South African techies and entrepreneurs to join its next dynamic cohort of trainees, with the opportunity to become world class class software developers and receive funding for their tech startups by entering the fully sponsored year-long program in Accra, Ghana which begins August 2017.

Joining the program exposes the entrepreneurs to new and diverse cultures, builds them to become globally competitive, and makes them eligible to receive seed-funding of USD $50,000 – $100,000 from the Meltwater Foundation.

Recruiting from South Africa, in addition to Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Cote D’ivoire is a deliberate move by MEST to create a pan-African network and curate a rich pool of talent and ideas. MEST aims to increase the rate of entrepreneurship adoption amongst African youth, drive more external investment to the continent, and in 2018 launch an Incubator in Johannesburg or Cape Town for MEST-graduated South African entrepreneurs to build a base and work on home soil.

The entrepreneurs-in-training (EITs) who are accepted into MEST also receive perks that allow them to focus 100% on building globally successful software companies: housing accommodation for a year in Ghana, three meals a day, and a small monthly stipend.

All interested and eligible South Africans must:

Have a deep passion build a globally successful software company
Have several years entrepreneurial or corporate work experience
Be able to commit spending a year in Accra, Ghana participating in the MEST training program starting August 2017

Think you’re a perfect fit for MEST or know someone who is? Start the application process here or contact recruitment@meltwater.org. Please note that the deadline for application in South Africa is March 10th.

Founded in Accra, Ghana in 2008, MEST is the brainchild of our CEO Jorn Lyseggen, who believes that talented people are everywhere, and with the right nurturing, support, and guidance, the next Facebook or Google can come from anywhere in the world. In Ghana, we have set out to prove that a new generation of young, ambitious entrepreneurs can come from Africa.

MEST entrepreneurs have developed solutions addressing local and global markets, received outside follow-on funding from global investors, and have gained admittance to top accelerator programs such as Y-Combinator, 500 Startups and TechStars. Some of MEST’s portfolio successes include:

Tress, the all-female team with a product that’s changing the billion-dollar hair industry, recently accepted into Y Combinator
Asoriba, the church management startup that’s swept through West Africa, recently partnered with payments giant, Interswitch and has been featured on CNN, BBC, Forbes
Meqasa, Ghana’s number one real-estate portal which has gone on to raise $500,000 from Frontier Digital Ventures

MEST entrepreneurs have also been selected by President Obama to represent at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C. and have also been named Mandela Washington Fellows, a flagship program of Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).

MEST itself is regarded as “one of the largest private investments in Ghanaian economic development” and also recently recognized as Fast Company’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Africa. General information about the MEST admission process can be found here.