Are you a young entrepreneur in/around Surulere? Apply now to be one of 10 candidates for #SurulereStartups. Now in its second edition, the program looks to award top 3 businesses with access $150,000 in cash and support.
Entries have now opened for the second stream of #SurulereStartups – where 10 young people running businesses 1 – 3 years old will be selected for an 8-week televised boot camp. 3 winning businesses will win access to over $150,000 in cash, media inventory and business incubation.
The first edition of #SurulereStartups held from April – June 2014 and involved 10 young entrepreneurs from in and around Surulere (Lagos, Nigeria) trained and mentored on Financing, Access to Markets, People Management, Business Planning and Marketing, amongst others.
The second edition takes that model and aggressively expands it, with a network of mentors and business coaches working actively with 10 entrepreneurs over an 8-week period. The 10 businesses must demonstrate a high-growth potential to be selected.
The boot camp will end with the participants presenting 5-year business strategies to a judging panel of respected business leaders. The top 3 entrepreneurs will get access to $15,000 in cash, $100,000 in media inventory (TV, radio, print and online) and $40,000 in business incubation including user/market testing, office space, connectivity, marketing support and administration. This package will include one-year access to funds, mentors and networks.
This started as an informal passion project of mine, supported by our media group RED. I was born in Surulere, Lagos; spending the first 20 years of my life there. It is also where we hosted our first office, and where we have been now for almost a decade. We are committed to this place, which has opened us up to many opportunities and has been the location for our continuing business growth. And so we kicked off #SurulereStartups as an informal programme to find other businesses that are starting just like we did, and who just need the support and the direction to scale.
However, the incredible feedback from the participants and the connections their businesses made inspired us to take this further and deepen the impact – and so we have spent the past few months structuring it into a proper business incubator. As a media company, we have also brought in a very important media element to ensure that beyond the 10 candidates, thousands of young people are able to access the knowledge and resources from the boot camp.
After a 30-month period, #StartupsAfrica will be presented by the non-government organization The Future Project as an impact study for building youth-led enterprise and creating jobs community-by-community across the continent.
To qualify, participating entrepreneurs must be
- aged 35 and below,
- must be African in origin,
- should have a business either based in/around Surulere or with a founder who grew up in /around Surulere (Yaba, Ijeshatedo, Mushin, Shomolu)
- must own Nigeria-based businesses below $30,000 in annual turnover.
To apply, vist startupsafri.ca now and click ‘Apply’ or send your responses to the questions to [email protected].
Applications end on Friday, 10 October 2014, and shortlisted candidates will be invited for a Business Defense interview.
This will be an exciting journey as we’re building African businesses, one community at a time.
Disclaimer – Chude Jideonwo is Managing partner of RED media group and brains behind StartupAfri.ca and SurulereStartups. He is a media entrepreneur and was named by Forbes as one of Africa’s top 30 entrepreneurs under 30.
Photo Credit: Wayan Vota via Compfight cc
