MEST Express 2020 Beta

Program Description
MEST Express is an acceleration program targeted at early and growth stage Ghanaian tech startups in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works initiative. The goal is to equip MEST Express startups to weather the COVID-19 pandemic, build resiliency, increase business acumen and technical know-how to ramp up traction, gain market share, boost sales, and create meaningful jobs. The program is designed to deliver tailored hands-on interventions that are focused on rapid practical application and observable business outcomes. Graduating Express startups will be poised for exponential business growth, and ready to onboard new talent.

Program Overview
MEST Express is a 10-week intensive hands-on acceleration program geared at early and growth stage startups. The curriculum focuses on interactive workshops tailored to the specific needs of the cohort and practical outcome-based sprints at the end of which participants will have ramped up capacity in that business aspect with traction to back it up. Each sprint will end in a demo day attended by experts and ecosystem partners where participants give a detailed account of their successes and challenges so far and receive critical feedback to take them to the next level. The curriculum is designed to focus on the following key business areas:

• Customer Acquisition
• Marketing & Brand Awareness
• Product Baselining & Optimisation
• Risk Management & Crisis Resilience
• Market Research & Positioning
• Org Structuring & Recruitment

Candidate Profile

1. Pre-seed or seed-stage (have raised $100k total or less cumulatively (since inception)
2. Currently generating revenue
3. Can demonstrate traction
4. Has been in operation for 1-3 years
5. Tech-enabled (software company)
6. Industry agnostic
7. Any business model (B2B, B2C, B2B2C, B2G, etc.)