Endeavor Nigeria unveils inaugural cohort for its ScaleUp program
Entrepreneurs from Releaf, Bankly, wallets.africa and BFREE selected to participate in new Endeavor ScaleUp Program
06 September 2021 – Endeavor Nigeria has unveiled the inaugural cohort of entrepreneurs for its new 10-week Endeavor ScaleUp Program that aims to support Nigeria’s most promising, high-impact business leaders. Leveraging Endeavor’s extensive global network, participating entrepreneurs will have access to mentorship, fundraising support, partnerships and a strong peer network of high impact entrepreneurs who have built and run successful businesses.
Seven entrepreneurs from four Nigeria-based start-ups have been selected to participate in the program, which will also provide an opportunity to receive tailored support and fresh, honest, and in-depth feedback that will help them scale to the next level. The entrepreneurs that have been selected to participate in the program are:
- Releaf – Ikenna Nzewi – CEO and co-founder, Uzoma Ayogu – CTO and co-founder
- Bankly – Tomilola Majekodunmi – co-founder and CEO
- wallets.africa – John Oke – CEO
- BFREE – Julian Flosbach – CEO, Moses Nmor – CPO, Chuks Enyi – COO
The new Endeavor ScaleUp Program will provide a subset of the services provided to Endeavor Entrepreneurs and participating entrepreneurs will be given direct, actionable feedback to support their growth as business leaders. The program will also include group workshops facilitated by Endeavor Entrepreneurs, board members and mentors, as well as access to executives from industry-leading companies for potential business development opportunities.
The group workshops will be led by Bolaji Balogun – CEO of Chapel Hill Denham and Vice Board Chairman at Endeavor Nigeria, Ife Orioke – CIO and co-founder of Flutterwave, Tito Ovia, co-founder & CGO, Helium Health and Tosin Eniolorunda – CEO and co-founder of TeamApt. The mentors will include Seni Adetu – former MD/CEO Guiness Nigeria Plc, Adepeju Adebajo – former CEO, Lumos Nigeria, Anders Einarsson – CEO Food Products International, Promasidor Nigeria Limited and Felix Ike – co-founder and CTO, TeamApt.
Speaking on the new program, Tosin Faniro-Dada, Managing Director and CEO of Endeavor Nigeria said, “We are delighted to have these exciting entrepreneurs on our first ScaleUp program, and we have prepared an impactful program that will address their most pressing challenges and support them as they advance to the next stage of their business growth. One of our core values at Endeavor is our commitment to paying it forward and our Endeavor Entrepreneurs are also eager to support the next generation of high-impact entrepreneurs with their deep knowledge, experience and functional expertise in their respective industries and markets”.
With a mission to build strong entrepreneurship ecosystems in high-growth markets across the world, Endeavor selects, mentors and supports high-impact entrepreneurs leading some of the world’s most exciting scale-up companies, supporting them to scale their companies as well as drive economic growth and job creation. Endeavor Nigeria currently supports 24 entrepreneurs who lead 13 companies including Flutterwave, Carbon, Autochek, 54gene, TeamApt, TradeDepot, Helium Health, Paga, Migo, Daystar Power, HealthPlus, Kobo360 and FilmHouse Group.
About Endeavor
Endeavor is the world’s leading community of high-impact entrepreneurs. Founded in 1997, Endeavor is a global organization with a mission to unlock the transformational power of entrepreneurship by selecting, supporting, and investing in the world’s top founders. Today, Endeavor’s network spans nearly 40 markets and supports more than 2,000 entrepreneurs whose companies generate combined revenues of over $28 billion US, have created more than 3.9 million jobs, and, in 2020, raised over $4 billion US in capital. Endeavor’s unique entrepreneur-first model and network of trust provide a platform for founders to dream big, scale up, and pay it forward to the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Endeavor launched its Nigeria office in 2018 to select and support the best founders of companies at the scale-up and growth stage, who recognise a responsibility to pay it forward and multiply their impact in Nigeria’s entrepreneurship ecosystem. Endeavor Nigeria aims to select 4-6 companies a year and today there are 24 Endeavor Entrepreneurs who are leading 13 companies in the portfolio.
Learn more about Endeavor in Nigeria: https://nigeria.endeavor.org/
Learn about Endeavor’s global network: www.endeavor.org