Ghana partakes in Mohammed VI Polytechnic University’s programme

Sixteen startups, drawn from Africa, USA, Portugal and Brazil have been selected to partake in Mohammed VI Polytechnic University’s Impulse Acceleration Programme in Morocco, Switzerland and the USA.

The programme, which began on January 13, 2020, has three Ghanaian Agritech start-ups, Esoko, SAYeTECH and Trotro Tractor, participating.

A statement issued in Accra on Monday and copied to the Ghana News Agency said the programme offers a wide variety of startups with innovative products and services that have the potential to reinforce capabilities to contribute to the global food security cause.

It said the second and third boot camps of the programme were ongoing in Benguerir and Lausanne and it consists of masterclasses, demo days, a challenge with the coding school 1337, several meetings with corporate and venture capitalists as well as engagement opportunities.

The statement quoted Mr Adnane Alaoui Soulimani, Impulse Programme Director, explaining that the three-month start-up training programme for Agritech, Biotech and Mining Tech startups include best-in-class business curriculums, value-added mentoring opportunities and intensive connections with ecosystem players in these three countries.

It said the Impulse programme seeks to bring innovative solutions to the smallholder farmers in Africa and to support the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems in Morocco and the rest of the African continent.

The Impulse Accelerated Programme’s call for applications ended on October 1st last year with over 350 applications received from more than 40 countries.

These numbers are unprecedented for a programme of this nature and demonstrate the true need to support entrepreneurs in the continent.

After a careful and robust multi-criterion selection process, the top applications were selected based on a meritocratic only approach and they have been enrolled into a world-class accelerator programme.