The Africa Startup Initiative Program (ASIP) is a program founded by Moh Damush, Telecel Group CEO as a CSR activity.  Telecel Group then partnered with Startupbootcamp AfriTech to create the ASIP Accelerator Program which contributes in a meaningful way to the African community to help the young Startups in Africa whose innovative ideas are creating a difference in their communities.

Backed by anchor partner Telecel Group, the program is ideal for tech-oriented startups looking to scale through corporate and public sector partnerships. We scout, skill, and scale early-stage startups through intensive coaching and opportunities for pilots and Proof of Concept projects that subsequently open the doors for longer-term commercial agreements.

To be eligible for the program, your startup

  • Has to be formally incorporated
  • Has at least 2 people working on the project and devoting at least 50% of their time to the project
  • Has customers or clients using the products or services
  • Is generating revenues from the products or services

What to expect

During the Covid pandemic, SBC launched Accelerator Squared as a fully online platform that enables startups to access the complete library of content, group workshops, 1:1 mentoring, collaborative sessions with Entrepreneurs in Residence, and invite-only discussion forums with founders from around the globe.

The Program takes a hybrid format and begins in Dakar, culminating in a physical Demo Day where startup founders pitch their disruptive solutions to a broad audience of media, investors, corporate partners, and industry stakeholders.

The 10 startups in the program will receive benefits valued at more than EUR 500,000, including credits from AWS, Google Cloud Services, Hubspot, and many more. ASIP Accelerator also invests EUR 15,000 in cash to each startup.

APPLY: ASIP Accelerator Program Second Cohort