Make-IT in Africa and Mettā Nairobi brings you the 14th installment of the “Women-In” series where we will be hosting a star-studded panel consisting of women at the top of their game in the energy industry.
The main purpose of the series is to celebrate women in different sectors, their achievements, and their roles. Looking at the great strides that have been made over the years by women throughout the world, we want this platform to empower the next generation.

Make-IT in Africa, in collaboration with our implementing partner, Nailab, hosted a Women in Tech Bootcamp on 27th June 2019. The purpose of the Women in Tech Bootcamp was to build a pipeline for women’s participation in Technology Anchored Entrepreneur Programs (TAEPs).

Startup Accelerators in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem was a joint training initiative held across Israel by MASHAV – Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation – and The Golda Meir Mashav “Carmel” International Training Center, supported by Make-IT in Africa.

The entrepreneurship support training sessions were held in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem between June 18 and June 27, 2019, and 25 start-up enablers from Africa took part.

The #Africa4Future start-ups gathered in Europe between June 12-22, 2019, to celebrate the final phase of the #Africa4Future joint accelerator and to showcase their technologies and recent achievements in Berlin as part of the German-African Business Day and at the GIZ representation before the final closing and Demo Day at the Paris Air Show. The events marked the last time the teams came together as part of the 2019 #Africa4Future joint accelerator. To continue their collaboration the start-ups signed a letter of intent in Paris to form a Pan-African Aerospace Association to lobby for better framework conditions for drones in Africa.

The University of Nairobi convenes a number of stakeholders to organize and execute the annual Nairobi Innovation Week (NIW) to support and accelerate the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in the region. The theme for this year was “Innovation and Kenya’s Big Four Agenda”. The main areas were food security and nutrition, enhancing manufacturing, universal health coverage, and affordable housing.

Working with partners, Make-IT was partnering with NIW to host a Startup Ecosystem Forum on June 11th, 2019, at Manu Chandaria Auditorium, University of Nairobi from 08:00 a.m. to 01:00 p.m. The forum was an opportunity for start-up ecosystem stakeholders to engage, network, and gather insights regarding the fast-developing ecosystem.