Welcome to the first of our quarterly updates on the work of CcHUB’s Pre-Incubation Unit in supporting early stage social technology ventures to build the foundations for sustainable enterprises. This post will give brief updates on ventures that have made strides in their work demonstrating consistency, passion and a will to ‘make it happen’; it will also introduce the new ventures in our portfolio.

Exciting Ventures
BudgIT (www.yourbudgit.com) started the year with its budget cut app (www.yourbudgit.com/kut) where over 4,000 citizens came up with interesting savings from the proposed 2012 budget. In addition to its infographics and short messages via twitter, and a recently launched mobile version of its website, the platform is gradually increasing the number of Nigerians with an understanding of public budgets and financial data. BudgIT’s team lead was recently awarded an Ashoka fellowship in recognition of the platform’s ongoing work.

Traclist (www.traclist.com) is a social commerce platform where retailers showcase their inventory to a wider audience. It conducted a successful three (3) month pilot featuring 38 stores, 702 products with 771 registered members on the platform. It has recently integrated online payments and signed a partnership agreement with a courier company to make prompt deliveries to customers across Nigeria. People are using their social networks to find and purchase products from the platform.

EFIKO (www.efiko.com.ng) a social quiz platform achieved a major milestone with a pilot in eight (8) secondary schools across Lagos State. With over 300 Senior secondary school students participating in the pilot, the platform has received excellent feedback which is currently being incorporated in advance of a January 2013 launch.

ASA (www.geniigames.com) has developed a suite of Android apps which promote & preserve our local culture. It has released 6 African folktale stories, and 2 beginner language apps (aYoruba and aHausa) using a combination of animation, voice and graphics to stimulate childrens’ interest in local culture.

Constitution App (www.constitutionforall.com.ng) has turned the Nigerian constitution mobile and over the past year has seen over 480,000 downloads. The online forum has also generated strong interest from citizens on issues relating to the constitution.

Lagos Innovation Hotspots (www.lagosinnovation.com) is preparing a detailed picture of the location of high growth and innovative businesses. With 12 clusters, 3 enablers and 171 businesses currently mapped, work commences of analysing the hotspots and engaging stakeholders.

Welcome!!!!
We welcome new entrants into the CcHUB portfolio as follows: Akilipoll (www.akilipoll.com) which seeks to drive Africa’s Growth through Fact-Based Conversations. With 2 polls a quarter, their analysis, presentation and dissemination of insights gathered should help to broaden citizens’ perspectives on governance and social accountability; Naijateenz (www.naijateenz.com) is promoting the beauty, strength and successes of Nigerian teenagers across the globe; Wecyclers (www.wecyclers.com) offers convenient household incentive based recycling service in densely populated neighbourhoods.

Growth Academy
In conjunction with Nokia, CcHUB launched the Growth Academy, a 3 month business accelerator program providing hands-on support to assist high-growth tech start-ups build world class mobile apps. After a successful pilot with 8 ventures, learnings e.g. having expert sessions, mentors and coaches have been incorporated into a full program featuring 6 ventures and is scheduled to end in February 2013.

For more information, kindly email preincubation@cchubnigeria.com