Startup Savanna is excited to share the exceptional entrepreneurs taking part in one of the Startup Savanna international acceleration suite of activities, the Wadhwani Foundation (WF) IGNITE program.

Through the Startup Savanna registration process, businesses are exposed to a suite of opportunities that are aimed at connecting them to international experts, investment, and support infrastructure, contributing to job creation,  business growth, and sustainability.

Among the Startup Savanna suite if activities is linking entrepreneurs to international acceleration programes such as the WF IGNITE program. From the registration process that gave a pool of 100 entrepreneurs who fit criteria to join the IGNITE international acceleration program, 66 businesses have successfully participated in the virtual program where they have gained:

  1. One on one guidance sessions with local Startup Savanna Team members and Wadhwani Foundation support staff
  2. Masterclasses presented by global experts
  3. Access to the WF Advantage Mentor connect App

Among the 66 entrepreneurs, 6 businesses stand out for their exceptional progress and growth through the international acceleration program.

Meet:

Smart Brains Africa

Lemuel Kinyanzwii is the Founder & CEO of Smart Brains Africa, an online Coding School, specifically for kids and teens in Africa. 

He has 11 years of consistent experience, founding and running a business in the education space. 

Previously, Lemuel founded: Bendhino Computer College in 2012, exited in 2013, and Dolphins Music Ltd in 2013-2018.

Smart Brains Africa was founded in 2018, and now has over 100 students learning to code online from home. 

He trained as a music tutor under The Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music, Britain. (ABRSM)

Company website: http://smartbrainskenya.com/

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/SmartbrainsEAfrica?_rdc=1&_rdr

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6cijpbCRaY

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smartbrainseafrica/

Centre for Mental Health and Wellness Kenya

Waringa Wagema is the founder of Center for Mental health and wellness Kenya. She has a Bachelor’s degree in both law and public health and has nine years of work experience with different companies, NGO’s and vulnerable populations. In addition to this work she is the Founder, Lead Trainer and CEO of the Centre for Mental Health and Wellness Kenya which was founded in 2018 in Kiambu. A creator of a Wellness Curriculum for training comprehensive mental and emotional health education to families, friends, co-workers and caregivers.

Mental health education is a vital tool for providing support, building capacity and bridging the knowledge gap. She believes that restoration, rehabilitation and reintegration reside in the community. Her unique combination of skills and expertise in law, public health, teaching, training, personal life experience and management give her a valuable edge in developing mental health curriculums and programmes.

When she is not working or studying she loves to engage in all things art, design and creativity, writing, music, listening to podcasts, yoga, reading non-fiction, telling a good story with friends and having a hearty laugh.

Tasty Brunch

Hawa Waore is the founder and creative director at Tasty Brunch, a local artisan bakery in Kenya, founded in Uasin Ngishu county. She has been a home baker and it’s only after her undergraduate studies that she started exploring her passion for creative confections. With a background in Agricultural Economics, International Development and Baking, Hawa’s true passion is bringing people from all walks of life together to foster inclusive cultures. She is an active volunteer and has participated in many community development projects, working with not only great minds from Africa but also from Asia and Europe. She believes that we meet our greatness when we open our minds to explore and embrace different cultures. 

In addition to exploring creative confections and volunteerism, Hawa enjoys a good book.

WhatsApp catalogue: WhatsApp catalogue: https://www.whatsapp.com/catalog/254701406057/?app_absent=0

Facebook: Tasty Brunch Kenya

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tastybrunchkenya/

Teleeza Africa Limited

James Kiruri, is the founder of Teleeza Africa, a mobile content aggregation and advertising platform. James is a Finance and ICT professional, a passionate entrepreneur who enjoys creating and building unique businesses. The onset of Covid19 drove Teleeza to be a reliable and trustworthy content provider.
 
Together with a team of eight other multi-skilled Kenyans and with the right skill mix in sales, commercial, marketing, design, content, tech etc Teleeza is well placed to tackle the problem and opportunity provided by the media fragmentation by building a platform that is fun, easy and convenient for our ecosystem of users, publishers, advertisers and Teleeza World marketplace partners utilising the new first screen, the smartphone.
 
Teleeza won the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in the Digital Change-Maker Innovation Challenge in a pandemic and post-pandemic world.
 
In February 2018 Teleeza launched in Kenya and is growing fast and now we are raising Seed funding to accelerate in Kenya and commence tackling the Africa market.

Company website: www.teleeza.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeleezaApp

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TeleezaApp

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teleezaapp/

Gilitics Media

Gilbert Were is the founder of Gilitics Media, a digital media company focusing on providing authentic inspirational content targeted at enlightening the society on issues related to their everyday living and giving hope to the community by telling their stories. interest in media began in 2015 when a friend from Amsterdam recruited him to collect human interest stories as a video journalist for their company, Zoomin.tv. From the experience and training he received, he realised he could utilize that niche and start his own company.

“During the 2017 general elections, upon finishing my work with Zoomin.tv, I associated myself with a certain candidate and began running and managing his social media and press duties. Together with some friends of mine, we set the groundwork for the company and began covering local events and telling stories within the community. Gradually we managed to get incorporated as a company and registered by the Media Council of Kenya in May and June 2020 respectively, and four years later we are still going on strong”.


He is also an IT expert, Data Analyst, in Data Security and Cloud Computing.

Company website: www.giliticsmedia.co.ke

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gilberto.jornalist

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gilbert_were5?s=09

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gilbert-were-53754016b

YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCPzs94b3qrnNMAijhrmJmEA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gilbert_were/

Veekture Social Entreprise

Ochieng Violet is the founder and CEO of Veeklture Enterprise, an enterprise that produces quality and affordable washable diapers for parents in informal settlements. Prior to Veeklture Enterprise, Violet was the Program Manager at KCEO, an organization that empowered women and girls on social entrepreneurial skills.

Before Joining KCEO, Violet was a volunteer at Friends of Love Kibera (FOLKS), teaching and mentoring children from Kibera as well as training their parents and guardians on technical business skills. While at FOLKS, Violet also worked as a Social Worker.

Violet holds a BA in Sociology and has done several leadership and entrepreneurship training. Violet is also an Alumni of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI)

Startup Savanna continues to support the cohort through the program as they get exposure, interaction and networking opportunities to other entrepreneurs from Africa and beyond on the program.

Learn more on how to be part of Startup Savanna and gain full access to international growth opportunities

https://startupsavanna.com/entrepreneurs/

Register today to be part of Startup Savanna

https://startupsavanna.com/join-startup-savanna/

About the Wadhwani Foundation IGNITE Program

Wadhwani Foundation Global Advanced Entrepreneurship Program known as IGNITE is delivered remotely by WF global expert facilitators through weekly scheduled Zoom sessions using the Wadhwani LearnWISE Online Platform. This allows entrepreneurs access to the lesson and work content through their own online LearnWISE dashboard.

Wadhwani Foundation Africa launched the program at the beginning of 2021 to 2 cohorts from 10 different countries in Africa with great success. This has allowed WF Africa to scale the program and to open up new regional applications for each quarter of 2021.

This fully sponsored (no cost to qualifying and selected entrepreneurs) program is focused directly on developing existing startups to the become market-ready, expand their market share, develop a solution demo, or scale their business. The outcomes are practical and will allow entrepreneurs to obtain global best practice skills and entrepreneurship knowledge that are applied to their own business model over the course of the program, and beyond.

The fast-paced program takes a time commitment of 5 to 8 hours a week from the entrepreneurs, over a period of between 10 to 12 weeks.

Entrepreneurs successfully completing the program will be uploaded and presented to the global www.younoodle.com platform for certification via the business venture, and if selected, receive up to $5000 in AWS (Amazon Web Services) credits.

Learn more about the Wadhwani Foundation