Itanna, the Venture Capital investing platform backed by Honeywell Group, has today announced the commencement of this year’s Accelerator Programme. For those unaware, Itanna, which started operations in August last year, invests in growth stage technology-enabled businesses across Sub Saharan Africa in order to champion entrepreneurial talent and encourage disruptive thought in the African business sphere.
(Itanna Accelerator Programme 2019)
The 2019 Itanna Accelerator Programme is the second edition of the programme and is a follow up to 2018’s big start where over 200 applications were received and out of that, 4 cohort companies were selected: Accounteer, Kolopay, Tradebuza, and PowerCube with 3 (Accounteer, Tradebuza, and PowerCube) receiving $25,000 each in investment. In addition to the funding, the cohort received training and mentorship in form of UI/UX Sessions, legal and HR workshops, classes on technology enhancements, business and marketing, and reviews of revenue/pricing model and operational metrics.
The 2018 Accelerator Programme cohort and the Itanna team at a team bonding event.
Obafemi Otudeko, the Honeywell Group’s Executive Director has this to say about Itanna and its objective. “Honeywell Group is entrepreneurial to its core – we have almost 50 years’ experience in building Nigerian businesses, across diverse sectors. As part of our wider portfolio, Itanna allows us to collaborate with the Nigerian tech ecosystem; we will invest patient capital into the startups we work with, and we will also provide world-class mentorship to enrich the business strategy of each cohort. As a corporate, we wanted to transform our approach and add dynamism to how we build our sector play. Itanna is the platform through which can fulfil our mission to use enterprise to make our world better.”
The Executive Director, Obafemi Otudeko, giving a speech at Itanna Demo Day
Applications for the 2019 Itanna Accelerator Programme opens today, March 18 and ends April 19, 2019. Itanna has increased its cohort size to 10 from 4 last year. The investment sum has also been increased to $30,000 which is quite the bump from last year’s $25,000.
From Right to Left – Tomi Otudeko (Director, Itanna) Omobola Johnson (Lead Partner at TLCom), Tony Idugboe (Head of Investments, Itanna) at a Guest Lecture session at the Itanna Enterprise Factory
This year’s programme will run from June 2019 to September 2019, and like last year, will culminate in a Demo day where the cohorts will get the chance to pitch to Honeywell Group’s extensive network of high net-worth investors, corporate partners, and strategic partners. As Itanna Director and Head Innovation and Sustainability, Honeywell Group, Tomi Otudeko promised, “Itanna will support investee companies to scale up their startups by leveraging Honeywell Group’s extensive network, industry expertise, and most importantly, access to capital.”
Tony Idugboe, Vice President and Head, Investments, at Itanna also has this to say about the 2019 Accelerator Programme: “We are more than ready to receive and review applications from startups across Africa and we are even more excited by the opportunity to work with another set of innovative, passionate and committed young tech entrepreneurs in the 2019 accelerator programme.”
To register for the next cohort, visit the website.
