This year marks the 3rd time we are running our Acceleration Programme in Uganda which brings together ten innovative ventures spread across different industries. According to Digest Africa, GrowthAfrica is one of the leading accelerators in Uganda focusing on post-revenue ventures to help them scale. Having accelerated 200+ companies since 2009, our programme is geared towards ensuring that the entrepreneurs are fully equipped with hands on and productive solutions to scaling their ventures. The cohort comprises of ventures cutting across nutrition, photography, taxi hailing, micro-finance, health, transportation and agriculture.
Kevin Thiong’o, a Growth Catalyst walks the entrepreneurs through their vision board
The ventures were selected based on the potential to scale, degree of innovation, the strength and ambition of the founders and their teams, and their potential to solve key challenges through innovative products or services. Through this programme, the entrepreneurs will learn how to craft strategies and plans that can aid them in the execution of these strategies and plans. Our tools further assist in capturing the learning of this process and iterate, slowly refining strategies and the overall business model into perfection.
The programme brings on-board experienced speakers, sages and mentors who understand the dynamics of running and growing a business and who can provide valuable insights to the entrepreneurs. While the mentors follow the entrepreneurs throughout the programme and aid them in pushing the overall development of the businesses, our sages offer their expertise and experience in much more concentrated doses and more narrowly:
The ventures in the programme are:
KweNu
With an increase in diet related diseases and an increase in fast food restaurants, KweNu provides healthy alternative so that Ugandans and make better food decisions. The company makes healthy and tasty juices, salads and smoothies from locally sourced, nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables. KweNu started two years ago.
Website: www.kwenukampala.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/KweNuKampala
Facebook: www.facebook.com/KweNuKampala
Instagram: www.instagram.com/kwenukampala
Kijani Baby
Kijani Baby is a cloth diaper business established to provide positive employment opportunities to empower women and provide a high quality, affordable, environmentally friendly alternative to disposable diapers in the local Ugandan market. Kijani is a Swahili word that means “green” and reflects the company’s desire to introduce earth-friendly products to the local market.
Website: www.kijanibaby.comTwitter: www.twitter.com/kijaniuganda
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kijaniuganda
Blush Media
Blush Media is a Ugandan based Media Company engaged in the business of photography, design and videography. The venture undertakes to provide affordable, quality and professional services to their clientele and that is a creed that defines who they are and what they stand for.
Website: www.blushmedia.ug
Twitter: www.twitter.com/blushmediaug
Instagram: www.instagram.com/blushmedia
Jumpstart Africa
Jumpstart Africa offers financial services to community groups with group guarantee for loans repayable in a short term for business and school fees. The company provides a solution for bottom of the pyramid active poor women (women face higher constraints in accessing start-up and growth funds. In Uganda, women access 9 percent of the available credit)
Website: www.jumpstart.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pg/JumpstartAfrica.org/about/?ref=page_internal
Spe Taxi
Spe Taxi provides airport transfer services in Uganda to individual travellers and corporate companies. Their mission is to create the most reliable airport transfer service in the East African region.Their business model leverages on IT and strong partnerships with already existing taxi cab operators to deliver their value proposition to their target market.
Twitter: www.twitter.com/spe_ug
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SpeTaxi
Fred and Miriam from Jumpstart Africa
Rabboni
Rabboni democratises access to transportation, agro-processing and distribution services in the East African region hence connecting agronomy, aggregation and route to market for maize grain and coffee. The company’s broader goal is to improve the “middle mile” agribusiness space by reducing inefficiencies in the value chain and increase farmer household incomes.
Website: www.rabboni.co.ug
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Rabboni-Group-Ltd-1672834672946474
Agrodynamics
Founded in 2009, Agrodynamics is an agriculture incentive company with innovative visions in agriculture development through modern agricultural technology approaches. Its target customers are the small-scale holder farmers who they use as their contracted-out growers and connect them to their off-taker companies like local breweries and export promotion companies.
Website: www.agrodynamics.biz
Krystal Ice
Krystal Ice makes healthy, nutritious, tasty ice products ranging from flakes, cubes, pops of different flavors from fresh fruit pulp. Its delicious flavors include orange, watermelon, mango, pineapple, strawberry and mixed fruit among others. The variety of ice products are made in different sizes, and packaging options, are all natural, convenient and some ready to eat.
Website: www.krystaliceug.com
Krinic
Krinic provides solutions to health and environment related problems that are fundamentally a result of using the traditional cooking methods. Due to the high energy density fuels used, the improved cook stove provides a cost saving solution for the end users. The business targets mainly rural households that are off the national grid and the corporate class and institutions in urban centres.
