Africa Fintech Foundry to drive start-ups’ growth with 2021 ‘Accelerator’ Programme
Africa Fintech Foundry (AFF) has opened up its registration portal for the 2021 Accelerator program.
Partnering with Access Bank Plc, the organizers aim to boost the growth of start-ups and to overcome challenges such as start-up pricing and competitiveness, creating endearing customer experiences, support and retention, hiring and people management, scaling for growth and product development cycle fundamentals amongst others.
Speaking at the launch of the programme, the Head of the Africa Fintech Foundry, Daniel Awe, explained that the high amount of recorded failure necessitate that start-ups be exposed to training.
In his word: “Research has shown that 90 per cent of start-ups fail due to various reasons such as lack of funding, being in the wrong market, a lack of research, misaligned partnerships, ineffective marketing and poor competitive positioning to name a few.
“Ninety per cent is a high percentage rate of failure. This indicates that many things need to go right for a business to succeed. Enabling start-ups to grow, scale and remain relevant in the tech space is where we play a major role as AFF.”
“Hence, through the Accelerator programme, we will be providing cohorts with mentorship and clinic hours from leading entrepreneurs, investors and industry experts. They will also get access to funding, unrivalled business insights, access to markets and networking opportunities with our partners at various stages of the program.”
Explaining why Access Bank is a partner, its executive director for information technology and operations, Ade Bajomo, highlighted the indispensable role of technology in solving the challenges facing the continent.
“Technology can serve as the catalyst for solving many of the problems faced across various industries. We also believe that it holds the potential to resolve social and economic challenges faced across the African continent.
“Therefore, as Africa’s gateway to the world, we have partnered the continent’s leading accelerator, the Africa Fintech Foundry, to create a platform that will nurture the brightest minds, providing them the needed resources to develop and scale their projects, to the benefit of all.”
Only start-ups that tech-enabled solution; offer a unique solution or unique application in a regional setting; have a cross-functional team with a deep understanding of the market – which includes technical lead(s) and founder(s) that are fully committed to the business; have a defensible position (IP; network effects; domain or region expertise); have been in operations for at least 6 months, amongst others will be considered for admission
The programme will last for 12 weeks and participants will be exposed to formal and informal mentorship from established founders, investors and pioneers across various industries.
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