Y-Combinator for Africa?

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2008-10-22 13:43:00 UTC
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I've been closely watching the growth of early-stage tech funder Y-Combinator looking for ideas about how to apply their model, which provides promising startups small amounts of seed capital and intense mentorship and networking in anticipation of further investment to developing world and/or social sector models.

Ushahidi founder Erik Hersman (a 2008 Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow) wrote a great post about the "problem with seed capital in Africa" on his WhiteAfrican blog a few days ago in which he suggests something like the Y-Combinator model to spur technology startup innovation in Africa. Having grown up in and currently spending much of his professional life focused on East Africa, Erik has some great thoughts on the subject, particularly highlighting the fact that while individual efforts (like those of Jonathan at Appfrica) are driving in this direction, the capital community interested in this type of enterprise needs to come together to make it happen.

This resonates with what I've heard over and over about the Y-Combinator model, which is that the actual dollars invested in the company are far less valuable than the density of the social network the Y-Combinator team offers to its projects. My question is what is the parallel in the African technology scene - or any social enterprise model? Who are the connections that African tech or other social startups need to make it work?

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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