The FDRE Jobs Creation Commission in collaboration with the United Nation Development Program and Center for African Leadership Studies/xHub Addis recognized 17 digital high growth entrepreneurs that have graduated from the ‘Ahun Incubation Program for Digital Entrepreneurs’ today. The entrepreneurs received 5000 USD in seed funding to accelerate their growth.
The overall objective of the incubation program was to equip entrepreneurs with advanced entrepreneurship skills, business skills, marketing strategy, business planning, and etc. The goal of the program is to have at least 25% of the startups have a customer contract, commitment letter, or service procurement by the end of the 5th month after graduation. Over a period of 5 years, 40% of the startups are expected to grow their revenue double the size of the national economy growth rate.
During the 4-month incubation period, in addition to the intensive training, graduates were provided with opportunities for shadowing, networking, and experience-sharing sessions with other startups, successful entrepreneurs, and different role models in the ecosystem.
The startups are engaged in various sectors, including ICT, manufacturing, health, transport, agriculture, and art & entertainment.
At the opening session of the program, the guest of honor Mr. Turhan Saleh- UNDP Resident Representative - congratulated the start-ups and he further stated UNDP supported the implementation of the Digital Entrepreneurship Vision 2025 defined by the JCC through the initial phase of the Empower, Digitize, and Globalize Entrepreneurs for Ethiopia's Transformation (EDGET) Programme. He further indicated UNDP remains committed to working with all of the startups to support and strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Ethiopia.
Short videos were presented during the ceremony to showcase the journey startups went through in the incubation program. The certificates of completion, as well as the seed funding award, were awarded to the entrepreneurs by Her Excellency, Lelise Neme, Commissioner, Ethiopian Investment Commission, and Dr. Kalid Ahmed, Senior Program Advisor for Digital Transformation, Ministry of Innovation & Technology.
In his closing remarks, H.E Nigussu Tilahun - JCC Commissioner - stressed that JCC will continue to leverage the public-private partnership model to support digital startups in collaboration with development partners.
