On February 20th 2019, thirty early stage and scale-up businesses and twenty-one corporate organisations in Kenya interacted at the Strathmore Business School Auditorium to discuss new means of collaborations.
The early stage businesses and scale-ups, currently in the ShelterTech Accelerator program, are tackling affordable housing challenges in Kenya through innovation. The Event dubbed “Meet the Corporates” saw them gaining perspective from industry players and corporates on how to properly value their businesses, strategically plan when interacting with corporates and effectively speak corporate lingo.
Jonas Tesfu, the CEO of Pangea Accelerator opined that, “startups need to be aware that corporates do not have structures and policies around these collaborations, therefore, they need to be clever by being relevant through innovation and using that as their lead-in.” Additionally, corporates gained perspective on how to inject innovation through corporate- startup collaborations into their models.
The program is the first of its kind in Kenya
The event was organized by the ShelterTech Accelerator Program. The program is the first of its kind in Kenya and is led by Habitat for Humanity and implemented by BDO East Africa in collaboration with Pangea Accelerator.
The program seeks to support these 30 early stage businesses and scale-ups with solutions addressing access to decent and affordable housing in different focus areas such as renewable energy in homes, water and sanitation, housing and construction and waste management.
Jane Otima, the Associate Director Market Systems & Entrepreneurship at Habitat for Humanity International’s Terwilliger Centre for Innovation in Shelter, noted that to increase uptake of affordable housing innovations and solutions, there is need to have all professionals involved in housing ecosystem to understand and appreciate the technologies so they can help popularise them in the market.
Furthermore, from the panel discussions, corporates learnt that startups do not solely seek funds when engaging with them. Mr. Sandeep Khapre, the Regional East Africa CEO of the multinational tax consulting accounting firm, BDO, added that it is not always about money, sometimes people are looking for an intellectual challenge and startups need to leverage that when seeking partnerships.
Startups also pointed that when seeking corporate partnerships, they look to learn, have wider market reach, get mentored and gain capacity in industry knowledge such as data and access to research labs. Beyond this, startups acknowledged their fear of corporates stealing innovation from startups and incorporating as their own product.
Association of Startup and SME Enablers in Kenya
Pangea Accelerator’s CEO and Co-Founder, Jonas Tesfu, responded to this by bringing
attention to the recent formation of ASSEK (Association of Startup and SME Enablers in
Kenya), which seeks to connect and provide a holistic framework for corporate and startup collaborations in Kenya.
Lastly, the networking session that followed compounded effect with the striking of strategic deals and agreements to mutually benefit both parties. Noted organizations present during the event include: GlaxoSmithKline, Bamburi Cement, iBuild Africa, British High Commission, Kenya Commercial Bank, QuestWorks among other key representatives.
