Grassroots vice president /co-founder Joy Wathagi Ndungu (left) engaging
youth at Nailab in Nairobi last month. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Last month 15 startups graduated from Nailab, a Kenyan startup
incubator, after taking part in a three month programme called Make-IT
in Africa that involved mentorship and training on how to grow their
business.
Experts say such programmes increase the
survival rate of start-ups to five years or more than those that do not
undergo such programmes.
It was the first time that the
Make-IT in Africa was held in the country. The programme seeks to
promote digital innovation for sustainable and inclusive development in
sub-Saharan Africa and is funded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
“The programme is
nine-month long. We partnered with Nailab for the first three months in
order to offer support to startups and train them on business growth.
The next three-month programme will focus on business to business
cooperation and we have partnered with the German Chamber of Commerce,
Victoria Ventures and Venture Capital for Africa to offer support,” said
Mutembei Kariuki, the Make-IT in Africa regional coordinator, East
Africa.
Having support from the industry can be an instrumental
experience to startups in order to get their business ready for the
market.
According to a survey conducted on the
importance of mentorship and training to small businesses and startups
by package delivery company, United Parcel Service, 70 per cent of those
that received mentoring survive for five years or more, double the rate
of those who do not receive mentoring.
This is because
through the programmes, they are offered support by industry experts on
how to navigate business challenges, to acquire customers, deal with
competition and business management in general. It thus prepares them
well for the market.
Some of the startups that
graduated from Nailab include ClinicPesa, a platform that provides
access to healthcare financing to the uninsured; Genexe Engenieering, a
company that manufactures energy efficient stoves; Redhunt, a platform
that enables medical practitioners and the public to search for and
locate blood types they require during emergencies; and Taimba, a
mobile-based platform that connects rural small scale farmers to micro
traders in urban centres.
This is not the first time
that the incubator has partnered with organisations in a bid to offer
support to startups. Since 2010, it has partnered with Amref Kenya,
UNFPA, SOS Ke and NL.
It
has also worked with international organisation such as Good Up in
Netherlands and Close the Gap from Belgium. It has also hosted events
with other partners like UNCTAD which included Chinese businesses and
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma as the main speaker, last year.
“Some
of the startups that have gone through our incubation programme
include: Eneza Education in 2011, Duma Works ( 2012), Kejahunt (2014),
Herdy.Co (2015), Imara TV (2016), B-track (2017) and Tozzaplus (2018),”
said Josephine Mwangi, Nailab’s head of communication, marketing and
stakeholder management.
Nailab has reported a 10 per
cent survival rate of the startups that have undergone its programme
with a three-year minimum period for them to generate consistent
revenues. Some of them have gone ahead to raise over five million
dollars in startup capital.
“Accelerated business
training programmes, help in reducing the amount of time the product
gets to market and with the pool of partners availed through the
programme, it increases the market reach for any startups,” said Ms
Mwangi.
“This also includes access to capital and
industry mentors. Our portfolio of startups is currently serving an
average of 500,000 B2C customers and 10,000 B2B customers. Our push is
always to have 10 per cent revenue growth month on month.”
The
startups have created 178 direct jobs and over 1,000 indirect jobs
through platforms such as Kuhustle that connects freelancers to existing
projects, Duma works that is a job recruitment site and Herdy that is
opening up markets for farmers produce, according to Nailab.
- African Laughter
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