Leading phone manufacturing company Nokia, in partnership with Nigerian social innovation centre Co-creation Hub (CcHUB) has embarked on the second round of an academy programme aimed at enabling top Nigerian startups to grow into successful businesses and create world-class applications on the Nokia platform.
The pilot programme was launched earlier this year, and has so far seen 8 startups trained. Out of the eight, two have launched their apps on Nokia Ovi store, two are queueing to get on the store and four are in final stages of development.
“The pilot has helped us to support the startups to pilot their solutions and attract early adopters, provide startups the opportunity to pitch to angel investors and obtain critical feedback, and also test the curriculum and revise it based on learning,” Tunji Eleso, The Director of Pre-Incubation and Research of CCHUB told HumanIPO.
Some of the apps that were created in the first round include EFIKO, Traclist, MyCash, Tiketmobile, 9reality, NINGO, Danfo and Waserise.
In the second intake, startups can expect to have a mentor and connect with other techpreneurs, including business owners and other first-stage entrepreneurs who face similar challenges.
“They will also be trained on user centric software development and agile project management by a world class training organisation, Futurice,” Eleso added.
After the three months, the startups in the programme get the chance to raise funding by pitching to impact investors.
“We also connect startups to our partners for possible funding. For example, TiketMobile got pre-seed funding from one of our partners, The Tony Elumelu Foundation.” Eleso said.
To apply, applicants are advised to visit www.growthacademy.org.
Applications close by 6pm on October 3 2012.
