Two weeks ago, we kicked off the Next Economy Accelerator program in partnership with Enviu with 10 high potential early stage businesses. Next Economy is a 3-month accelerator for early stage businesses in Lagos/Nigeria to help grow their businesses into profitable & sustainable enterprises to stimulate the creation of jobs in Nigeria. The Next Economy will empower businesses with the knowledge, skills and tools to needed achieve growth and scale.

Prior to the kick off, a call for applications was made in Lagos via various social media channels for early stage businesses looking for acceleration support to aid their growth. Over a course of 2 weeks, a total of 55 applications were received on the portal.

Applications were screened based on preset criteria and 10 amazing businesses evolved! Let’s give you a brief introduction to the ventures:

1. Nicademia: An edtech platform that produces local educational cartoons to make learning easy and fun for young Nigerians.

2. Balogunmarket.ng: A chat-commerce platform that brings together small time retailers and kisoks owners in West Africa’s Biggest Market to customers & consumers.

3. Greenbles: An e-commerce platform that is focused on the sales & distribution of green goods directly from farmers to wholesalers and retailers.

4. WhyHemCee Enterprises: A personal grocery shopper that helps you source for affordable, fresh and healthy food items and brings them to your doorstep.

5. ProTeach: An Edtech platform that connects students to expert tutors within the Lagos metropolis.

6. Autosave Roadside Assistance: A platform that provides 24-hour assistance like minor mechanical first aid and extricating & towing to motorists in and around Lagos.

7. Oremicrafts: They create unique crafts and accessories from new, recycled and local materials.

8. Cribpark: Nigeria’s first state-of-the-art e-commerce marketplace where home builders can purchase home construction items from vetted and trusted sellers.

9. DeliveryBros: An On-demand Delivery and Retail Fulfillment company optimizing Intelligent and Smart technology with our fleet of riders to deliver World Class on-demand delivery services with reliable pickup and drop off options with real time tracking as well as transparent pricing per fulfillment request.

10. Charme: A Beauty and Wellness on-demand Service in Lagos that brings vetted beauty and wellness professionals to your doorstep.

To immerse the shortlisted ventures into the program, a 2-day boot camp was held at the CcHUB – on #the6thfloor. Ventures were introduced to the program’s objectives and the learning curriculum for the accelerator. A need assessment and thorough analysis of each business was done using the Business Model Canvas & Swot analysis tool, also each venture set goals they intend to achieve through the accelerator and metrics to track them.

At the Accelerator, weekly working sessions facilitated by seasoned experts would be conducted for the businesses to get valuable insights and customized growth hacking tips to rapidly scale their user base. At the end of the accelerator program, ventures will partake in a demo day, which is an opportunity to showcase their business with the public, the media and also meet prospective investors.

Follow their growth over the next 3 months with the hashtag #NextEconomy on twitter.