Nigerian incubator iDEA will tomorrow showcase four startups that have come through its programme, offering them the chance to pitch to select venture capitalists and angel investors interested in financing their businesses.
Information Technology Developers Entrepreneurship Accelerator (iDEA) was launched in April 2013 in order to assist Nigerian entrepreneurs and accelerate the development of the tech industry in Nigeria.
The demo day – which will take place at iDEA’s Lagos Centre in Yaba from 10am WAT tomorrow – marks the graduation of the four in-house businesses – Nerve, Verge, Hutbay and Afrobus – that have gone through the 4-month iDEA accelerator programme, a mentor driven programme consisting of three modules and designed to help startups launch and grow market share.
Disrupt Africa reported in April iDEA had opened applications for early-stage or growth startups looking to take part in its incubator programme, while it has also launched startup mentoring programme GEM.
In March it launched the Fostering and Accelerating Startups in Tech (FAST) entrepreneurship programme, which involves carefully selected courses and a focus on startup needs.
Oluseye Bassir, chief operating officer (COO) of iDEA, previously told Disrupt Africa hub sustainability is “inextricably linked” to the impact of a particular hub or incubator.
“That impact could be commercial, where we find the best teams with the most scalable offerings, and we actually help them along, such that a number of our startups in which we take equity then become winners,” he said.
“Impact could also be social or socio-economic. Some of the impact we’re looking to make in that direction, is to contribute to the growth of a technological cluster that attracts and develops very highly skilled people, building viable companies that collaborate and compete within our space.”
Hub sustainability has become a much debated issue over the past year, with AfriLabs director Tayo Akinyemi saying last year African tech hubs were fragile and had no clear path towards long-term sustainability.
Akinyemi further advised recently that African tech hubs must act like startups if they are to be financially sustainable long-term.
