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Catalysing the East African mobile and entrepreneurial ecosystem
2 years of m:lab East Africa
PIVOT East 2013
25th-26th June 2013
Tonny K. Omwansa, PhD University of Nairobi
[email protected] @tomwansa
m:lab East Africa
•Established through a grant from InfoDev •Launched in June 2011 •Managed by a consortium •Mission: “to facilitate demand-driven innovation by regional entrepreneurs, ensuring that breakthrough low-cost, high-value mobile solutions can be developed and scaled-up into sustainable businesses that address social needs”.
University of Nairobi
Partners over the years (2011 – 2013)
m:lab - A strong brand now
Activities:
PIVOT competition (>430 start-ups applied )
Mobile app development & entrepreneurship training (>350 individuals applied)
Incubation (8 start-ups) Wireless Wednesday sessions
Ad Hoc training programs
• Quantify the accomplishments
• Understand the trends
• Identify ways to improve the programs
Target Population
Population Threshold Respondents
Training program 80 50% 55%
PIVOT participants 50 50% 50%
incubated start-ups 8 80% 100%
In-depth interviews 18
Study Objectives
Respondents
Mobile app development & entrepreneurship training
Capacity of 25
5 cohorts
103 completed
Launched Q2 2011
Advanced mobile application development and entrepreneurship skills
Targeted individuals with computing background, but evolved to accommodate others Started with 6 months, evolved to 4 months - including 3 week business support program Some support beyond completion availed
125 enrolled
Training participant profile
Youthful, 21 &24 years (64% ) Recent college graduate (75%) Male to female (4:1) Average Kenyan to Non-Kenya (15:1) Increasing number of non-Kenyans over the years About half have never run a business before (55%)
Wave 1 Wave 2 Wave 3 Wave 4 Wave 5
M
F
Other
was jobless
business networks
pitching skills
business skills
technical skills
M:Lab training
Relevance and outcomes
“One and a half years of failing I
am now learning about how to run a
start-up”
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Technical skills Business skills Pitching skills Business Networks
Before After
Rate yourself before and after the m:lab training
After graduating: Continue to attend m:lab events (68%)
Some are dedicated full time to their start-up (16 %) Many are involved some forms of start-up (72%)
M:Lab training
Create a knowledge loop, with past graduates
Increase ‘business support’ period – Incubation
Integrate with business mentorship
Enhance business training
Formalize support beyond the training
Mix of participants (gender, training, country) Room to improve
Recommendations
M:Lab training
Pivot East Competition & Conference
25 finalists yearly
3 levels
Launched 2011
Annual (’11,’12,’13) pitching competition conference for start-ups Focus gradually emphasised on promising start-ups Platform for business idea to change to apps and start-ups Five winners get USD 5000 - 10000 and opportunity for incubation 5 categories
Profile of participant
Pivot Competition
Most have registered companies (80%) Most founders are still involved in their start-up (75%) Most founders are male (90%) Most founders have computing background & college degree (86%) 0 20 40 60 80
Technical Skills
Win Award
Get Business partners
Business networks
Business Skills
Attract Investors
Get Visibility
Pivot Competition Relevance and outcomes
Most valuable aspect?
Pitching skills (87%)
Visibility (74%)
Training and coaching (68%)
Least valuable aspect?
Outreach & meet – ups (27%)
Getting investment (37%)
Selection and judging (43%)
Expectation gap Largely Met
Visibility (67%) Business skills (64%) Largely un-Met
Business partners (38%) Attracting Investors (14%)
75%
6%
19% Growing
Stagnated
Suspended
20%
7%
27%
47%
Not began generating revenue
Have broken even
Are making profit
Began generating revenue
Pivot Competition Relevance and outcomes
Status of business beyond PIVOT. (Those not incubated)
Attract skilled business people into start-ups
Increased incubation capacity
Bridge the ‘investor <–> start-up‘ gap
Tiered competition levels
Communicate more clearly purpose of PIVOT
Can everyone who got to finals be a winner?
Follow up mechanism beyond competition
Recommendations
Pivot Competition
Forster more EA participation Room to improve
Incubation
8 start-ups supported
2 of 8 start-ups exited
Launched Mid 2011
Comprehensive set of business support resources Physical incubation at Bishop Magua Centre Nairobi in Nairobi’s Tech hub area Portfolio of business support services Virtual incubation been introduced 2 graduated before 24 months
6 – 24 months
Profile
Incubation
“We needed a good space to work in and community to work with. m:lab provided exactly that.”
0% 50% 100%
Other
technical skills
business skills
access to investors
access to partners
visibility
networking
Incubated start-ups have gone through PIVOT (8 of 8)
Registered companies (7 of 8)
College graduates (8 of 8)
Half the founders are still with start-up (50%)
Relevance and outcomes
Incubation
m:lab was most helpful in? Visibility (62%) Business networks (50%) m:lab was least helpful in? Pitching to investors (38%) Technical skills (12%)
Most useful in? Office Space (75%) Shared meeting room (75%) Internet connectivity (75%) Coaching (50%) Least useful services? Wireless Wednesday meetings (14%) Seminars on business aspects (29%)
Incubation
Investors (4 companies)
Setting up own office
Growing Customer Numbers
7 of 8 incubatees have grown their
businesses
Evolution of Product & Business
Growing visibility
Positive cash flow
Partnership commitment
Greatest Challenges
Scaling (50%) Fundraising (50%) Best business model (38%)
Relevance and outcomes
Focus more on coaching
Going to market support
More personalized mentorship
Stronger local investor network
Recommendations
Bridge ‘investor <–> start-up gap’ Room to improve
Incubation
