Over the period of January through to June 2016, the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) recruitment team received thousands of online applications from across Sub-Saharan Africa (Including Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Sierra Leone), all who were vying for only 60 coveted spots in the Entrepreneurs-In-Training (EIT) program.
While recruiting aspiring entrepreneurs in the various cities (Accra, Lagos, Nairobi, Cape Town), the MEST team met a very diverse and talented group of individuals with desires and dreams to make positive impact on their communities and countries.
Over a 12-month period 6 South African entrepreneurs, 15 Nigerian entrepreneurs, 18 Ghanaian entrepreneurs, and 16 Kenyan entrepreneurs will receive hands-on training in software development, entrepreneurship, business development, sales & marketing, communications and prototyping to equip them with the skills needed to take their ideas off the ground and into global markets.
At the end of the program, individuals would have pinpointed a problem they’re most passionate about solving, formed teams, focused on developing a robust product, developed a thorough business plan, and crafted their investor pitches (which is essentially the EITs’ final exam and the holy grail at MEST).
After the investment pitches, the strongest and most promising teams receive between $50,000 to $250,000 in equity investment, to support the launch of the new businesses, with continued support at the MEST Incubator.
With support from partners, including Nigeria-based Interswitch who funds all Nigerian EITs at MEST, each individual in this group will receive a $50,000 scholarship covering their tuition, housing, meals and air travel tickets for their year long stay at the MEST Training program in Ghana.
This August, MEST will welcome the pan-African class of Entrepreneurs-in-Training (EITs) into their campus and life in Ghana.