By Start.Space
The Pan-African entrepreneurial training program, seed fund and tech incubator, Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), has launched its fourth incubator and tech hub in Nairobi, Kenya. The incubator will provide the same on-the-ground support, access to resources and global MEST network.
The Nairobi launch comes less than a year after the opening of MEST Africa’s Lagos and Cape Town hubs in November 2017. “MEST is thrilled to officially establish our presence in East Africa with the launch of our Nairobi incubator,” said Aaron Fu, the MEST MD. “A truly Pan-African tech hub, we now have a presence across all corners of Sub-Saharan Africa: West, South and now East. I personally look forward to engaging even more deeply with the incredibly vibrant tech and start-up community thriving in Nairobi, which I’m happy to call home.”
The Nairobi hub will serve as its flagship East African space, joining hubs in Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa, as part of a growing network of Pan-African incubators. It will also host the new East African office of its parent brand, global leader in media intelligence and AI-Driven Outside Insight, Meltwater, who is also expanding into the region. One of the first companies to move into the Incubator in Nairobi will be one of their recent investments Sharehouse, an ‘Airbnb for warehouses.’ In addition, Nestmetric, a platform that makes business insights and predictions through Machine Learning accessible to all types of businesses; will also join the hub
MEST was first established in Acrra, Ghana in 2018, and started its initial presence outside of Ghana, beginning with Nigeria in 2015 before expanding to South Africa, Ivory Coast and Kenya. It results for the last ten years are truly impressive. Since its inception, the Meltwater Foundation has invested $20 million into the program, supporting scalable African start-ups through their training programs and incubators. Over 330 individual entrepreneurs have graduated from their 12 months training program, and over 55 tech companies have been launched via seed funding and mentorship from MEST. Among these start-ups, Claimsync, AdGeek and Saya have been acquired.
In addition, MEST entrepreneurs have developed solutions addressing local and global markets, received outside follow-on funding from international investors, and have joined top accelerator programs such as Y-Combinator, 500 Startups and TechStars.