As part of the partnership with Microsoft 4Afrika, Co-creation Hub (CcHub) has became a BizSpark Network Partner. Thus, the Startup community of CcHub and the bigger startup community of Nigeria are invited to join the program and benefit from it to boost their businesses.

The BizSpark program was launched in 2008 around the world to support startups by providing software, support, and visibility. Today the BizSpark network has 50,000 startups in 100+ countries, and 2500 partners.

The BizSpark program is free and offers the following:

• Software: Full-featured Microsoft software development tools, platform technologies, and server products to build software applications. Startups also get Windows Azure benefits enabling them to quickly build, deploy & manage web application. More info online
• Support: Startups get access to investors, advisors and valuable offers to help run their business, find talent & obtain financing. Startups also get access to technical, product training & support.
• Visibility: Opportunity to achieve marketing visibility to help promote their business. They can be nominated to be Featured Startups at the worldwide level and get global visibility.

To be eligible for BizSpark, you need to meet the following criteria:

• Have a privately held business that is less than 5 years
• Have at least one software development project
• Have a revenue less than $1M.

Does your startup qualify for BizSpark? Send an email with the name of your startup and your preferred email address to developers@cchubnigeria.com and also register at www.bizspark.com to get started. 

The duration of the program is three years. Please visit the BizSpark F.A.Q. and consult the fact sheet for additional information.

So far, over 1000 African startups have joined BizSpark since its launch. Here are some testimonials from Nigeria, Uganda and Tunisia:

“In addition to all the software we get for free, BizSpark saved us the budget we have been using for hosting. We deployed three instance of Linux OS on Windows Azure and we have been able to focus more on our business and stopped worrying about our server going offline and thanks to BizSpark, we don’t worry much about the cost of software or hosting. In addition to BizSpark, we are now in contact with Microsoft experts giving us the right technical support to develop our applications.”
~ Olufuwa Tayo, Jobs in Nigeria, NIGERIA

“Starting a software company requires not only developers, but also good infrastructure making the whole investment too costly for a start up. access.mobile Uganda Ltd is privileged to have been among the first Ugandan companies to be enrolled into the BizSpark program in 2013. We have grown from one Solution to four, with more coming, all hosted under BizSpark and with continual support from the Microsoft experts.”
~ Jane Mukulu, Access Mobile Inc, UGANDA

“BizSpark gave us access to Azure services for scalability, an easy going platform, allows to run several virtual machines with different technologies supported. The support is really reactive and provides high value advices. In addition, by being selected as a featured startups gave us visibility, exposure and credibility in front of big partners. In addition, by becoming part of the supported startups of the MIC, we benefited from trainings and events connecting us with a bigger network, locally and internationally.”
~ Amine Chouaieb, Chifco, TUNISIA