Safaricom, M-PESA Africa, and Sumitomo Corporation have extended an invitation to early-stage tech startups to participate in the ‘Spark Accelerator program.’ This initiative is designed to accelerate the growth and scalability of these startups through a comprehensive three-month accelerator program. The program will offer training, mentorship, funding, and go-to-market support, positioning the participating ventures for long-term success.
Taking an ecosystem-based approach, the accelerator program will identify and accelerate startups by leveraging a team of experts well-versed in market dynamics and emerging technologies. This team is dedicated to fostering continuous innovation within the startup community. Participating startups stand to gain access to technical support, enabling them to develop mini-apps embedded into Safaricom’s M-PESA Super App. This strategic move empowers startups to reach over 4 million customers who actively use the app.
Peter Ndegwa, CEO of Safaricom, emphasized that the accelerator program goes beyond providing capital injection, as seen in the previous Spark Fund initiative. The restructuring of the program addresses the challenges that early-stage startups often face in achieving significant growth.
M-PESA Africa will play an important role by offering expertise, market research, insights, and additional capacity support for startups seeking to broaden their reach to other countries. Importantly, the support provided will extend beyond the three-month program, allowing startups to tap into a vast network of more than 60 million customers and 5 million businesses across M-PESA’s eight markets.
