Applications open for Village Capital, Gearbox Hardware Accelerator programme

Village capital and gearbox are calling for applications to their inaugural Hardware accelerator program in Africa; which is set to be held in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi. The application deadline is September 7th, but early applicants are set to receive more attention from the selection panel. With support from The Lemelson Foundation, The Doen Foundation, SGII, and VC4Africa, Village Capital and Gearbox will provide unique capacity building to African Entrepreneurs looking to scale their businesses. The organisations are especially interested in companies seeking to improve access to energy for all or provide increased agricultural productivity for small-holder farmers. Examples include: Affordability: inventions that radically increase affordability of energy generation or agricultural products, reduced Consumption: innovations that reduce the cost of consumption for small-holder farmers, efficiency: technologies that increase the efficiency of energy and/or agricultural distribution systems. 12 high-potential invention-based ventures will be selected to participate and will receive extensive feedback from their peers, potential customers, investors and industry experts, as well as the opportunity to peer-select two participating ventures to receive $50,000 each in pre-committed investment. The program is structured as three intensive 4-day sessions over 3 months with additional remote collaboration online between sessions. There is no cost to apply and no program fee for chosen enterprises. The Program’s sessions will take place on the following dates: Session 1: October 21-24; Nairobi, Kenya Session 2: January 6-9; TBD Session 3: February 22-25; Nairobi, Kenya.