TechTribe Accelerator to train at least 100 SADC ventures in first cohort

The TechTribe Accelerator (TTA) — a new virtual accelerator announced today that it will support at least 100 ventures from around the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in a seven-month acceleration programme that starts in January.

The accelerator — which will be launched on Friday (13 September) at the SA Innovation Summit — is aimed at post-revenue technology and intellectual property (IP) driven impact ventures from a variety of sectors that are seeking to become investment ready.

Applications for the programme will also open on Friday. The first intake will focus on ventures from Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.

Applications for the TechTribe Accelerator will open on Friday at the SA Innovation Summit

The initiative is funded by the Southern African Innovation Support Programme and involves collaboration between Impact Amplifier, Mhub Malawi, the SA Innovation Summit and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development’s (Nepad) Southern African Network of Biosciences (SANBio).

While at least 100 ventures will be selected to take part in the accelerator’s first cohort, a further top-30 selected from among the 100 will be awarded virtual mentorship by regional experts.

The accelerator said in a statement last Wednesday (4 September) that it is born of the need to bring pan-African ecosystem partnerships together to solve commercial issues at scale.

TTA said it is the “first ever” SADC public-private partnership which seeks to:

• Connect entrepreneurs through a closed online social network
• Train hundreds of tech enables ventures to become investment ready using an online learning management system, alongside virtual mentors who can operate anywhere on the continent
• Provide access to grants, debt and equity investors through online and live deal rooms
• Work with other stakeholders like universities, hubs and accelerators to deploy acceleration services locally

The accelerator added that it will be data driven and will focus on monitoring the progress of ventures and their impact over a long period of time, all this while iterating itself according to outcomes.

Nepad SANBio network manager Ereck Chakauya pointed out that while innovation happens everywhere, the major issue African entrepreneurs ace is the lack of quality education, acceleration services and access to networks in locations outside of the major tech hubs throughout the Sadc region.

SA Innovation Summit chair Audrey Verhaeghe said the TTA is the “first real attempt” to educate, accelerate and connect Sadc-based impact and tech entrepreneurs regionally, as well as develop a “digitally-enabled tribe”.

Featured image: TechTribe Accelerator – TTA via Twitter