Meltwater presenterar sitt interna utbildningsprogram som utvecklar framtidens programvaroentreprenörer i Ghana.

1. MEST Overview
MBA Business Consultant Program
October 6, 2010
Ylva Strander, Managing Director, MEST

3. – Private in-house training program to develop future software
entrepreneurs in Ghana
– International NGO fully funded by Meltwater Group through
Meltwater Foundation
– 85 person organization with 2 classes and 7 Incubator
companies
– International territory where history is being written
MEST Today

4. Impetus for founding MEST
How did MEST come about?
Vision
To create jobs and wealth locally in Africa
 Fundamental belief in people – talent is equally distributed across the world, what differs are the resources
and support given to some and not others
 Giving back – wanting to have an impact beyond the direct economic effect of our business operations
 Maximizing the impact
• focus on education/training – “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish
and you feed him for a lifetime.”
• influencing future generations – creating positive role models, who prove that globally competitive
software can come from Africa
• software as a vector for growth – a high-growth space, where products can be competitive with
minimal upfront capital investment and limited resources
 Why Ghana?
English-speaking, focus on education, government support for tech sector, easily accessible from
US/Europe/Asia, politically stable, high degree of safety
Mission
Train and mentor young Africans to start their own software companies and compete
successfully in global markets

5. • - Three Directors
• - Two Senior Faculty Instructors
• - Seven Teaching Fellows
• - Countries Represented:
United States, Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Sweden,
Pakistan, Ghana
International Staff

6. MEST Program Overview

7. Three Phase Program
MEST MINC Mentoring
1. Training 2. Incubation 3. Mentoring
-2 year full-time paid
traineeship
-In-house training in
commercial
software
development and
entrepreneurship
-Fully paid hostels
and two hot meals
per day
-Allowance
-1-2 year incubation
of business ideas
based on software
concept
-Seed funding and
infrastructure
provided by
Meltwater
-Open for qualified
graduates of MEST
-Accra, London,
Frisco
-Start-up company
commercially active
on the global
market place
-Supported by a
mentor program
consisting of world-
class executives
and entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurial Program in 3 phases

8. MEST Training Program

9. Project work Seminars
Entrepreneurial
training
Guest lecturers
MEST Pillars

10. Programming skills
Software development life
cycle
From idea to prototype,
Business plan, and investor
pitch
Application to Incubator
Semester Objectives

11. A closer look
What does it look like at MEST?

12. A closer look
What does it look like in Ghana?

13. • Currently in their 3rd semester out of 4:
– 14 Entrepreneurs-In-Training (EITs)
– Four teams of 3 or 4 people
– Use of agile software development methodology
– 30 page full business plan
 Research in progress
 Business plan in draft format
 Final plan this semester due November 10th
Class of 2011

14. • Current projects
– Tickety: a mobile ticketing service for purchasing bus tickets in
Africa
– PinPoint: location based service for smart phones in Africa
allowing users to search for locations and event
– FonBox: sms based social network for Africa using group
messagin
– Home stay portal for Africa
Class of 2011

16. MEST Incubator

17. Incubator
What happens after the training?
 Launched in February 2010
 Invests in and supports startups from the MEST Training program
 Located in Accra, Ghana with long-term goal to partner with incubators in Silicon Valley & London to
provide short-term direct access to US & UK markets
 EITs apply to the incubator with their final projects from the training program
 Incubator selection panel chooses which teams are accepted into the incubator
 Main investment criteria:
• potential of team to execute on business plan
• viability of idea
• international applicability
 The incubator provides:
• initial seed funding
 typically $30k-$200k (in tranches)
 in return for a minority equity stake
 ideally to provide enough runway to produce commercially viable solution & initial revenues
• office space
• access to a network of advisors/mentors
• hands-on assistance in business aspects from incubator staff
 Only MEST training program graduates and alumni are eligible to apply to the incubator
 Has been mentioned as one of the top tech incubators on the African continent!its

18. • Currently 7 software startups:
– Leti Games: Multi platform online game
– Streemio: Music streaming service for mobile phones
– Nandi Mobile: Mobile directory and SMS-based customer service application
– Retail Tower: Inventory management system for online retailers
– Dealeezy: SMS- based student discount service
– Tutamee: Platform for high quality educational content
– Slix.tr: Portal for internal corporate communication
MEST Incubator

19. Incubator
More pics from 19 Banana street…

20. • Review business plan and give feedback
• Weekly conference call with team
• Provide weekly status to Sr. Faculty
• Last part of term work with teams on business idea generation and
validation
• If volunteer for two terms, provide lecture in Ghana next term
• Build long-lasting relationships
Your role

21. Thank you!