Nigeria’s Co-creation Hub (ccHub) is kicking things up for the next two years with the launch of a US$500 000 seed fund to support early stage startups. Located in Lagos’ up-and-coming tech neighbourhood, ccHub is a social innovation centre dedicated to providing a space and accelerating tech startups.
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“We leverage a community of progressives — software developers, organizations, government officials, businesses, academics who bring their creativity and knowledge into play in crafting novel ways to address the myriads of social and economic challenges that impact the lives of Nigerians every day,” says the hub.
This new fund will be disrupted among startups ranging from US$10 000 – US$25 000 to support business model experimentation and operations. Five initial startups have been chosen to receive funds from the progamme: Vacantboards, Truppr, Traclist, 500shops and GeniiGames. The chosen five have been through the hub’s pre-incubation program. According to ccHub the programme identifies and supports aspiring technology entrepreneurs looking to address local market problems with relevant solutions.
The chosen five began on the US$90 000 Tony Elumelu Foundation/CcHUB pre-seed fund, with a grant award of US$5 000 each to support their ideas. They were able to build working prototypes, carry out initial market testing and proof their concepts. The growth shown by the five warranted the need for a different kind of support.
This announcement comes on the heels of the first anniversary of ccHub’s incubation office, which provides entrepreneurs with mentorship, user testing, access to markets, office space and administration.
“CcHUB incubation office launched in response to the need to provide business development, mentoring and funding support to start-ups that showed traction from our impactful Pre-incubation program,” says Bosun Tijani, CEO & Co-founder of CcHUB. Our seed investment ensures startups have a sure footing post-Preincubation to concentrate on rapidly executing their plans and learning from the market.”
According to Tunji Eleso, Director of Incubation at cchub, they is already in discussions with a number of investors to provide additional funding to two the initial beneficiaries. He reckons there will be some “breaking news” on that front fairly soon.
The hub hasn’t stated if this will be a regular fixture in its funding rotation, but we hope it is.
Here is the list of the five initial beneficiaries
Vacantboards: led by Tunji Also is an online outdoor advertising marketplace which enables one-click booking of outdoor advert spaces & tracking of advert campaigns.
Truppr: founded by Bosun Tijani is a social tool that connects people with physical activities and teammates in cities across the world.
Traclist: run by Emotu Balogun is an online marketplace that helps fashion retailers expose their inventory and allows customers all over Nigeria to buy from an wide array of products.
500 shops: led by Clive Ayonye offers small and medium sized businesses the opportunity to set up a complete online store and accept orders in minutes.
Genii games: led by Adebayo Adegbembo delivers educative apps aimed at preserving and promoting African Culture and related subjects which include languages, etiquette and ethics.
