I have experience of several innovation methods including experimentation and Hypothesis Testing, and I would like to highlight my involvement in launching an African Start-Up Accelerator called the Accel Awards.

​

During my time at the London Business School, I was part of the team that launched the Accel Awards during my tenure as the Vice President for Special Projects at the Africa Club. The Accel Awards is an annual entrepreneurship competition focussed on African start-ups with the aim to provide global perspectives, international exposure, networking opportunities and business mentoring to African start-ups that have a proof of concept and international potential.

 

Since the inception of the awards in 2018, almost 900 African businesses have been reviewed, up to 10 have received mentorship, and 6 businesses have been provided a stage to pitch their ideas to a selected group of seasoned venture capitalists, business angels and global business leaders at the annual London Business School Africa Business Summit, one of the largest student-led Africa-focussed business summits in Europe. The 2018 winner was able to hire 12 additional employees and increase their production capacity by 20% by virtue of their participation in the Accel Awards and this is just a glimpse of the impact that this initiative is having on the African continent.

​

I'm still involved in this initiative and I look forward to sharing more of my learnings and experience of launching this accelerator.