Applications open for 2018 Westerwelle Young Founders programme

Berlin based non-profit the Westerwelle Foundation has opened applications for its Autumn 2018 Westerwelle Young Founders Programme. Entries close on 25 June.

The initiative is aimed at young entrepreneurs from developing and emerging economies. As part of the programme, 25 innovators will participate at the Young Founders Conference set to take place from 16 to 20 October in Berlin.

In a press release to Ventureburn today (15 May) Westerwelle Foundation programme manager Christoph Rohde said the programme’s aim is to “support young founders in strengthening their companies, connecting them with other outstanding entrepreneurs as well as the German startup scene and thereby accelerating their success”.

The Westerwelle Young Founders Programme aims to connect young founders to the German startup scene

During the year-long programme, participants will not only get the chance to attend The Young Founders Conference but will also be matched with mentors and benefit from access to entrepreneurship conferences as well as the initiative’s alumni network.

The foundation stated in the release that for its last cohort, 23 participants from 19 countries — including Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Uganda and South Africa — had been selected from over 1500 applicants worldwide.

These African participants included: Wazi Vision CEO Brenda Katwesigye, CodeSpace co-founder Emma Dicks, QualiTrace CEO Kenneth Nelson, Direxiona CEO Nayrouz Talaat, Prepclass co-founder Ogunlana Olumide, People’s Pension Trust CEO Samuel Bediako Waterberg, Securella (now Seon – see this recent Ventureburn story) co-founder and MD Samia Haimoura, and SuperFluid Labs CEO Timothy Kotin.

During the last Young Founders Conference which was held last month between 10 and 14 April, the 23 participants met with GreenTech Capital Partners CEO Erik Yong, Mountain Partners investment director for Latin America Mark Penkala, and La Famiglia VC founding partner Robert Lacher in an investor workshop.

Featured image: The Westerwelle Young Founders Spring 2018 cohort (Photo by DieOffeneBlende / Supplied)