Last year, we reported that Ugandan startup accelerator program, inCcelerate, was looking for applicants to it's ‘Startup for Startups’ Program aimed at building a startup culture among Ugandan entrepreneurs.
Today, the startup accelerator by enStartup has announced that it shortlisted 7 successful candidates out of a pool of 64 applicants. These were selected on the basis of willingness to learn and commitment to building new businesses with other individuals.
"We were looking out for individuals who were willing to learn, and that was really committed to building new businesses with other individuals. Most considered coming to the fellowship with their already existing solutions which was fairly wrong with our kind of model as inCcelerate," said Moris Atwine, from enStartup.
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He also added that "inCcelerate is on a path to building early-stage companies, where we take into account that working in a new business is often like living on the edge. With this, everyone who goes through the entire application process has to be in it together."
This is the first-ever inCcelerate Cohort which will be a "full-time 3-month fellowship opportunity that will enable finalists to become enMembers," according to the official press release from enStartup.
The shortlisted individuals will now get to work with "other smart and talented" enMembers as well as get to refine their skills as "inCcelerate creates a culture where prototyping, modelling, tinkering are the norm and fail fast is acceptable," part of the statement added
The finalists are; Joshua Wegoye, Mubadi Mercy, Joshua Mulwana, Munyambabazi Daniel, Edna Yvonne, Hassan Kanja and Ecweru Rodney.
When asked about the mode of investment and what they expect to get in return, Moris clarified that enStartup will be investing a minimum of $10,000 into the startups formed during the fellowship. For this, they'll take a "10% equity depending on the service/product each of the teams will come up with," he added.
"We are investing our own money as enStartup! enStartup Inc is a Technology Company registered globally, that’s building a startup culture among creatives in Uganda. This is Personal Money!"
He also added that they are "investing in individuals who are starting ventures on a pathway to solving relevant problems, and planning for scale, where we shall use a modification of our ‘model’ in our design as inCcelerate prioritizes investing in people and the relentless pursuit of a startup venture growth."
The first cohort kicks off on the 15th of January until April 14th, 2018.