Lagos, Nigeria, May 25, 2012

Leading phone manufacturing company, Nokia in partnership with foremost social innovation centre in Nigeria, Co-Creation Hub (CCHUB) has embarked on an academy program called ‘Nokia/CCHub Growth Academy’ aimed at accelerating top Nigerian mobile software companies in growing their companies on regional and international levels.

The academy program is the first of its kind business accelerator programme in Africa dedicated to providing intensive continuous hands-on support to help approximately thirty (30) early stage mobile technology start-ups grow into high growth businesses and build world class mobile applications for the Nokia platform regionally and globally.

The first programme of the Growth Academy started on May 10th and will run till end of July 2012, featuring ten (10) companies, which are expected at the end of the three months to have a world class mobile app launch on the Nokia platform with full marketing support by Nokia. They will also have access to funding to scale their business through an investor presentation as the end.

The program comes in three parts; Training, Development and Launch of world class mobile apps for Nokia platform. Selected participants will undergo hands-on, structured and technical training to actualize your ideas.  Futurice, a leading global mobile software house from Finland with expertise in mobile application development and user driven design will have several face to face sessions with the participants in Nigeria and also provide constant online support and mentoring to the participants during the Growth Academy

Speaking on the project, Head, Ecosystem and Developer Experience, Nokia West Africa, Mr. Teemu Kiijarvi, says Nigeria has a thriving and growing mobile software start-up scene with a lot of potential for growth.

“At Nokia, our objective with the Growth Academy is to support local talent in developing their skills and in growing their companies. Our aim is to integrate them into both regional and global markets and ensure future funding for growing their companies”, He said.

Speaking also on the initiative, the Director, Pre-Incubation and Research, Co-Creation Hub, Mr Adetunji Eleso described the Growth Academy program as a novel accelerator programme in Nigeria which will build the capacity of Nigerian technology start-ups to create world class applications that meet the real needs of Nigerian consumers.

According to him, participants on the program would have the opportunity to undergo hands-on and structured training with modules such as business model development, implementation plan, lean product development as well as technology training and mentoring, which would build them to match up with local and global standards.

By the end of June, Nokia and CcHUB will start looking for the next intake of companies to the Growth Academy.

About Nokia
Nokia’s mission is simple, Connecting People. Our goal is to build great mobile products that enable billions of people worldwide to enjoy more of what life has to offer. Our challenge is to achieve this in an increasingly dynamic and competitive environment.

Ideas. Energy. Excitement. Opportunities. In today’s mobile world, it feels like anything is possible and that’s what inspires us to get out of bed every day. For more information, visit http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia

About Co-creation Hub
CcHUB is a social innovation centre dedicated to accelerating the application of social capital and technology for economic prosperity. Our technology hub which is the first in Nigeria serves as an Open Living Lab in which user-driven innovation is fully integrated in the co-creative process of new services, products and societal infrastructures.

CcHUB’s methodology is hinged on engaging a community of progressive stakeholders (end-users, subject matter experts, government agencies, businesses, academics, civil societies etc.) who bring their creativity and knowledge to play in co-creating solutions to social challenges faced by the average Nigerian through our open living labs. The resulting innovations are then supported to become sustainable market solutions by providing proactive business support, advice, mentorship and funding through our pre-incubation & research unit. For more information, visit www.cchubnigeria.com

About Futurice
Futurice Ltd is a consulting company employing Agile development methods to create web and mobile software and provide on-site technical training and coaching. The head office is in Helsinki with branches in Tampere, Berlin, Dusseldorf and London. Futurice is one of the fastest growing companies in the Finnish information technology branch and was ranked Finland’s best place to work in 2012. It was founded in 2000 and currently employs over 150 professionals. Futurice’s revenue has grown annually on average 95% each year. For more information, visit www.futurice.com