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The Nana Benz Center supports entrepreneurs operating in any of the 15 countries of the ECOWAS market (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali , Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo)”
The Nana Benz Center’s Accelerator program is open to start-ups, experienced entrepreneurs and individuals operating in or looking to start a business in the industry segments covered by the Nana Benz Center :
The Nana Benz Centre has a focus on the 15-country region of the ECOWAS. We are thus looking for ECOWAS-based entities and/or individuals with a demonstrated entrepreneurial mindset and with the skills required to take a business idea from the concept stage to marketable product or service stage.
A unique value proposition and a clearly differentiated solution are what we are looking to see from applicants. We endeavour to support and nurture high-impact solutions and answers in the three sectors we cover.
The Nana Benz Centre is located in Lome, Togo and is purposefully designed to take advantage of the country's position as a time-tested regional hub with logistic assets that allowed it to play an out-sized role in furthering intra-African trade.
To the extent that the Center's Accelerator program is a cohort-based training program, we do expect successful applicants to operate out of Lome, Togo.
While our application process does not call for a full formal business plan, we expect applicants to be able to fully articulate their strategy and plans, and to show how their proposed solution(s) would be different from existing options and how it would yield quantifiable benefits to West Africa.
The Nana Benz Center’s Accelerator is an ecosystem designed to support our chosen business ventures from the brainstorming stage right through to the launch phase. We aim to provide all the necessary support, tools and education required to ensure our start-ups grow to world class ventures.
Through the Management Team and Board of Directors extensive Canadian network, The Nana Benz can introduce selected Candidates to Canadian fintech companies and venture capital entities.
Our Center is dedicated to the NANA BENZ spirit of entrepreneurship.
The “Nana Benz” name refers to the formidable ladies who initiated, grew and controlled much of the imported fabrics trade in the Togo-Ghana-Benin region starting in the early 1900s. They imported wax fabrics and garments (mostly from Germany and the Netherlands) and expanded the trade throughout West Africa for nearly a century, to a point where small-country Togo played an outsized role that dwarfed the country’s actual population size and economic power base.
The Nana Benz name thus became synonymous with a maverick can-do attitude that has also come to define Togo, as a country. We’ve dedicated this Accelerator program to the Nana Benz women and to what they represent for Africa.
The Westbridge Group of Companies is a Calgary-based, real estate lending, equipment leasing and commodities trading-focused institution catering to the development needs of specific countries in Africa.
http://westbridgecredit.com
Unicorn Growth Capital is a New York based venture capital firm focused on investing in high-growth, African, FinTech-enabled companies transforming the financial services infrastructure of the digital economy.
www.unicorngrowthcap.com
Based in Arkansas, USA, Grainster is an online commodity trading platform which directly connects buyers to sellers from around the world. Grainster offers buyers access to their extensive network of suppliers from 38+ origin countries.
www.grainster.com
Le Palais des Congres de Lome, Togo will host the Inaugural Nana Benz Center Annual Conference, co-organized by Unicorn Growth Capital and Westbridge Group of Companies.
The two-day event will begin with keynote speeches from Government officials and industry experts, followed by an introduction to the Nana Benz Center business accelerator program and several breakout sessions, panel discussions, in connection with logistics, commodities, and Fintech, and culminating with an Entrepreneur Masterclass Seminar lead by experienced local and international executives.
We will be announcing and presenting the winners and new entrants into the Nana Benz Accelerator Program.
Vulncre at eos materias ad eu louor qui amet arcui. Unde fames.
Le Palais des Congres de Lome, Togo will host the Inaugural Nana Benz Center Annual Conference, co-organized by Unicorn Growth Capital and Westbridge Group of Companies.
The two-day event will begin with keynote speeches from Government officials and industry experts, followed by an introduction to the Nana Benz Center business accelerator program and several breakout sessions, panel discussions, in connection with logistics, commodities, and Fintech, and culminating with an Entrepreneur Masterclass Seminar lead by experienced local and international executives.
We will be announcing and presenting the winners and new entrants into the Nana Benz Accelerator Program.
Vulncre at eos materias ad eu louor qui amet arcui. Unde fames.
The Nana Benz Center’s Accelerator is an ecosystem designed to support our chosen candidates’ business ventures from the brainstorming stage right through to the launch phase. We aim to provide all the necessary support, tools and education required to ensure our start-ups grow to world class ventures.
The Nana Benz Center provides our start-ups with fully furnished office space (private and team
space), conference rooms and access to event spaces, as well as, access to high-speed internet, business
software, communication tools and office equipment.
The Center will host practical hands-on workshops facilitated by experienced entrepreneurs.
These sessions will offer startups tools, mentoring and peer feedback to solve specific problems
and build essential business components.
Through the Center’s founding partners and sponsors, our start-ups have access to a
network of founder-friendly venture capitalists, family offices, private investors and investment funds.
The Center’s faculty and mentors will guide the start-ups in chosing which funding source is right for
them.
Through the Management Team and Board of Directors extensive Canadian network, The Nana Benz Center can introduce selected Candidates to Canadian fintech companies and venture capital entities.
Senior Economic Advisor at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ottawa
Senior Vice President, Westbridge Group of Companies, Toronto
Operational Marketing and Communication Consultant, Abidjan
Senior Vice President & Co-Founder, Tre’dish, Toronto
Senior Director, Loyalty Development & Sponsorships at Air Canada, Toronto
Togo is quickly becoming the regional “entrepreneurial hub” for all things Logistics, thanks to an abundance of assets and to politically-savvy decision-making around the digital transformation and investments in agriculture. That confluence of assets and initiatives has bolstered the infrastructure required for the Logistics, Fintech and Commodities sectors to blossom. The Nana Benz Center encourages potential candidates to take full advantage of these unique assets.
Here are a few new initiatives that are bolstering the infrastructure required for the Logistics, Fintech, and Commodities sectors in Togo.
In early 2021, The $24M USD Lome Data Center opened- this carrier-neutral facility boasts over 400 sqm of floorspace allocated to the private sector and 100 sqm for government use.
https://numerique.gouv.tg/inauguration-lome-data-centre
In 2018, The Government of Togo established the Ministry of Digital Economy and Digital Transformation structured around a set of four strategic axes:
Created in 2008, The Lome Container Terminal is leading container terminal operator in West Africa. Ideally located in the Gulf of Guinea, the terminal is a strategic gateway and first transshipment hub in West Africa and well position to serve the landlocked countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
https://www.lct-togo.com
PIA is a vertically integrated industrial zone, focused at creating thriving value chains for storage, processing, manufacturing, and export offering advantageous tax regime, modern infrastructure and integrated multimodal logistics services.
https://pia-togo.com
Ikore is the Lomé-based and Fintech-driven regional agriculture commodity exchange platform, helping bring transparency and market access to the physical buying and selling of commodities.
