Though tiphub was launched in February of 2014, co-founder Chinedu Enekwe spoke confidently about the accelerator’s reach and ultimate agenda. By targeting African entrepreneurs — on the continent and across the African diaspora — and ideas which benefit the continent, tiphub seeks to be the conduit between African inventors and the resources that will aid them in achieving an impressive end goal — like creating an app, startup or service.
Unlike other accelerator or incubation programs for African entrepreneurs, Enekwe says tiphub is different because of the company’s foundation, which is driven by social enterprise.
Establishing a Sustainable Foundation
The often noted sustainability component of this accelerator comes from a consulting businesses within tiphub that offers solutions in tech, web and mobile applications, which then, “sells enterprise solutions to companies and builds them,” Enekwe told AFKInsider. “We have a sustainable business model that creates a continual pool of cash that we invest as capital. Later on we’ll be accepting investor capital, but right now we’re co-investing with investors.”
This past summer, tiphub launched its African Access Academy, a weekend workshop program that took place over the span of two weeks — virtually and in-house at the accelerator’s headquarters, located within downtown Washington D.C.’s Impact Hub. The classes, which introduced entrepreneurs to mentors, investors and business peers did essentially what tiphub does as a whole, but in the form of crash courses.
“We put it out there that we’re doing this and we received an overwhelming response from people within the states and all over the world. So what we decided to do is enable people to have access to it virtually, on demand and on a running platform,” Enekwe said about the African Access Academy.
“Our focus is technical assistance in training to make sure that the entrepreneurs are ready to capture the opportunities that they see, and that they’re passionate in addressing them. African Access Academy is basically tailored to equip entrepreneurs with the tools necessary to do that in terms of knowledge, access to resources and instructors.”
Rooted In Africa
Enekwe’s passion for linking others with resources stems from his professional background in engineering, investment banking and law. Aside from having worked on the continent, Enekwe and his co-founders are tied to investment, power and education programs which have been rolled out in Africa.
“I began the process, but once you start to bring in co-founders, they shape the idea with their own experience and know-how and it gets to be wider and broader,” he said about creating the accelerator. “You get to the point where it’s not my idea anymore. And I don’t feel comfortable saying it’s mine…We want to be part of the engine of growth for Africa. What we see is the opportunity to create and be a part of the ecosystem.”
Enekwe noted that because Africa was late catching onto the internet wave, the potential for helping Africa’s innovators achieve success through technology is huge.
“It was born out of necessity,” he said about tiphub. “What I view as necessity — seeing dual aims of things that need to be addressed, which is African youth unemployment and capturing the technology of youth innovation and digital technology in Africa,”
Taking the Investment Leap
Although tiphub stresses and tries to expose entrepreneurs to opportunity through varying avenues like the African Access Academy, one thing that everyone on tiphub’s team agrees with is what type of entrepreneurs to take in, and what ideas to nurture through investment. By next year, the accelerator hopes to have injected between $25,000 to $100,000 into no more than 10 startups. Despite being a fairly new accelerator, Enekwe said that his team doesn’t hesitate upon selecting entrepreneurial ventures to fund.
“We’re not iffy about making the investment decision, because we have a process in place, making sure that it’s a sound decision. The key is, there’s not an unlimited pool of money, so what makes the decision to invest iffy is if there are better ideas that can reach a greater scale,” Enekwe explained.
“Once you make a decision, you’re precluding yourself from making another decision. What we’re doing now to counterbalance that fear is making sure that we go around and go to those markets, meet people and let them know what we’re trying to do and highlight that we want to support the entrepreneurs that are focusing on Africa.”
Diaspora Demo Day
Later this month, during Global Entrepreneurship Week, tiphub will be hosting an event called Diaspora Demo Day, where entrepreneurs from the continent and elsewhere will showcase their ideas and network with investors. Technology stakeholders including 20-30 presenting entrepreneurs will be encouraged to take part in investor meetings, which tiphub will help to facilitate.
Innovators across the Diaspora, who are at the idea stage or who have yet to launch businesses, will be welcomed at the event. Being that there are countless organizations which advocate for political reform, human rights and doing business in Africa located in the capital, tiphub has no shortage of mentors and investors to contribute to the movement: “In D.C. we’re kind of spoiled as far as our mentor pool — and finding and working with people who have interest and knowledge about a multitude of countries in Africa,” Enekwe admits.
At tiphub, when it comes to jumping on the bandwagon to support an idea, the selection process boils down to more than something that’s fresh and innovative.
“What we’re blown away by more than apps and technology is passion and drive. Those are the things I can say that I’ve noticed amongst entrepreneurs that we come across that really blow me away — passion, preparation and drive,” he added.
“Those are things I can believe in and what I believe we need to have more people doing. Taking the leap and also making sure they’re prepared to do it. Practical, realistic thinking and ability is what’s most valuable. That’s really the key.”