Established 2008 Budget $2 million/year Location Accra, Ghana Phone +233 30 274 2921 Founded 2008 | Mission Create jobs in Africa Owner Meltwater Foundation Website meltwater.org Founder Jørn Lyseggen Parent organization Meltwater | |
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Address 20 Aluguntugui St, Accra, Ghana Similar Wisconsin Internatio University, Ghana Institute of Manage, PRESEC, Accra Institute of Technolo Profiles | ||
Meltwater entrepreneurial school of technology
The Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) is a non-profit post-graduate training and mentoring program and startup incubator in Accra, Ghana. The three-phase school and incubator program were founded in 2008 by Jørn Lyseggen to provide training, investment, and mentoring for aspiring technology entrepreneurs with the goal of creating globally successful companies that create wealth and jobs locally in Africa.
Contents
- Meltwater entrepreneurial school of technology
- March vinz nico and vinz in meltwater entrepreneurial school of technology
- History
- Program
- References
Since launching in 2008, MEST backed startups have been acquired by investors, or recognized internationally by organisations such as Techstars, 500 Startups and at events like the LAUNCH Conference in San Francisco.
March vinz nico and vinz in meltwater entrepreneurial school of technology
History
MEST was announced in 2007, when the Meltwater announced plans to establish an entrepreneurial training program in Africa. The school opened in February 2008 with the first class of Entrepreneurs in Training (EITs). In February 2010, the first class of EITs graduated and the MEST Incubator was launched with seed funding for incubator companies started by the first group of EITs.
In January 2015, MEST partnered with Vodafone Ghana to sponsor a 48-hour hackathon to help develop access to information, simplify transactions and shorten business processes. In February 2015, the school was named recognized as one of the top 10 most innovative companies of Africa by Fast Company. MEST announced a partnership with Samsung in April 2015. As part of the agreement, Samsung provided subsidized devices and internship positions, as well as marketing services and mobile application distribution, in exchange for the opportunity to invest in MEST companies through its Samsung Enterprise Business Partners. MEST hosted the first Africa Technology Summit in November 2015 in Accra, Ghana, the event featured panels and keynote presentations from a variety of global and African businesses.
In 2016, MEST began recruiting EITs from the French-speaking Ivory Coast and opened additional business incubators in Lagos, Nigeria, Nairobi, Kenya, while planning to open additional locations in Cape Town, Johannesburg. That same year, MEST entered a partnership with Kosmos Energy to form the Kosmos Innovation Centre to focus on creating agriculture solutions. In December 2016, MEST hosted the second Africa Tech Summit in Lagos, Nigeria, including speakers from Google, Uber, Interswitch, and more.
Program
MEST sponsors African entrepreneurs in completing a 12-month program focused on software development, business fundamentals and entrepreneurship. Top graduates from schools in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa Entrepreneurs-In-Training (EITs) are selected each year to receive comprehensive training in computer programming, product management, finance, marketing, sales, business leadership, and other skills required to build a successful technology business. Upon completion of the training program, the best business ideas are incubated as startup companies for a year before beginning to scale and deploy their businesses.