m:lab East Africa, World Bank launch ‘Traction Camp’ to Support growth stage start-ups

M:lab East Africa and the World Bank Group, yesterday at the iHub, Nairobi, launched Traction Camp, a new initiative developed to support growth stage start-ups across the region.

With support from the World Bank Group, Traction Camp will allow m:lab East Africa to extend its capacity and service portfolio, ensuring that innovative digital products can be developed and scaled into sustainable and profitable businesses.

“On the business front we have tried to work with early stage start-ups and that has gone well. But for growth state start-ups, we haven’t done much. And that is what this programme is about,” said sheilah birgen, Lead, m:lab East Africa.

“It is basically making sure we get growth stage start-ups ready for investments, for huge types of investments, it’s about growing the skill of the people on your team, it’s about understanding team dynamics of the start-ups, it’s about increasing knowledge and readiness on access to finance,”  she added.

In East Africa, there is limited support for companies with a market-ready product.  Entrepreneurs who graduate from incubators still lack the necessary skills to accelerate the development of their businesses, by attracting financing from different sources and building links to a wider value chain.

“Entrepreneurial skills, business acumen, access to networks, and good knowledge of financing  mechanisms are critical to scale startups,” said Ganesh Rasagam, manager for Innovation & Entrepreneurship in the World Bank Group’s Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice. “Now is the time to seize the moment and help Entrepreneurs Bridge the gap through increased training and technical support in those areas.”

The first call for applications will be published in the coming days and will stay open until the end of January 2017. The program will consist of two weeks of intensive training followed by up to six months of personalized coaching, tailored to each entrepreneur’s needs.

Participating companies will receive technical assistance to improve their marketability to early stage financiers. The curriculum will cover key topics, such as investment readiness and investor engagement, along with negotiations, regulatory environments, and internationalizations.

Traction Camp is supported by the World Bank Group’s infoDev program and the governments of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Kenya.