In collaboration with Fate Foundation and Mara Mentor, Microsoft has launched the ‘Cloudpreneur Project’ in Nigeria to enable and empower young business owners, so that they can contribute to the social and economic growth of Nigeria.
The project will provide 100 participating Nigerian start-ups with entrepreneurship, Cloud and ICT training. At the end of the project, the 20 best performing participants will receive mentorship to manage their own profitable businesses based on Cloud technology.
The 'competition' will be open to 1 000 applicants who have been in business for 1 – 3 years. From these applications, 100 successful participants will be chosen. These participants will receive a four-week long training on business management, including training on: sales, technology, entrepreneurship, marketing, communication and start-ups management. Following this, 30 of these 100 participants will be provided with startup models and, finally, the top 20 performers will be mentored on how to build their own Cloud-based business.
Microsoft had also, last year, launched the Cloud Startup Academy in partnership with the Association of Women Entrepreneurs in Morocco (AFEM) and INWI in Morocco. The Academy takes 50 Moroccan women through a six-month programme, where they receive accelerated training on the Cloud to help them launched Cloud-based solutions. While the Academy is open only to women – particularly young graduates and job seekers – the Cloudpreneur Project is open to both male and female startups across Nigeria.
Applications for the Cloudpreneur Project open on Friday 20th of March and close on Sunday 19th of April 2015. Interested startups can apply HERE.
