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Nairobi’s iHub has opened applications for the second edition of the regional Traction Camp accelerator programme, aimed at nurturing startups in East Africa so as to create globally competitive, growth-oriented, mobile and digital technology businesses.

Disrupt Africa reported last year m:lab East Africa – which has since been subsumed into iHub – and the World Bank Group’s infoDev programme launched the Traction Camp initiative, one of a series of accelerator programmes being launched by the World Bank across Africa.

Twenty startups from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda were chosen to join the six-month programme, which culminated with a demo day in September. Applications are now open for the second edition of the programme.

“The programme supports growth-oriented startups in scaling their business through a tailor-made acceleration process designed to take businesses through a rapid-cycle competitive curriculum and matches them quickly to appropriate business mentor and capital,” iHub said.

Startups from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Burundi and Somalia are eligible to apply for the programme, with participants to receive mentorship from highly experienced business experts, and gain access to potential corporate partners and investors.

Entrepreneurs will learn through a tailor-made curriculum which covers key topics such as investment readiness and investor engagement, along with how to navigate negotiations, regulatory environments, and internationalization. Other project activities will include facilitating several access to finance workshops to provide familiarity with financial concepts and expectations of angel investors to a broader audience.

Applying before the first cut-off of November 1 gives applications more time to be evaluated, though the final deadline is January 15, 2018.

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