I’m happy to announce the rollout of a platform for developing and promoting talented Africans in the UK to become future tech founders – “Propel Africa“. I have been working on this for a little over a year now since I’ve moved to the UK. The shaping of it took some trial and error and positive feedback from my network.

I’m also excited to mention that, among the few milestones reached since the ‘soft’ launch a little over a month ago, our free Knowledge Center is now available where we have published an ‘Investor Readiness Guide‘ for all of our aspiring visitors and future candidates.

The goal: The core mission is to help young Africans seize the economic opportunities in their homelands by providing the necessary tools and support.

Propel is a platform that supports African graduates in the UK in becoming successful startup founders in Africa. Our mission is to reduce Brain Drain by shaping a new generation of talented technology founders.

The reason behind this idea was that throughout my career, I have been meeting a lot of talented African nationals in many of the countries that I’ve been visiting. During these visits, whenever I strike up a conversation about opportunities back in the ‘motherland’, it always bored down to the unavailability of support and funding.

So as I continued implementing the idea, I made sure to narrow down the focus to African talent that are based outside the continent, starting with the UK. Especially graduates, who are usually fresh out of their academic ‘shells’ filled with the enthusiasm and eagerness of applying their skills.

Why the UK? Well since moving here I’ve realised that the UK has a very good share of African talent coming here to study and/or work. After scouring through HESA for solid statistics, there is an estimate of 25,000 – 30,000 African students present in the UK in 2017. Britian is (apparently) also home to rich African culture, through their African Centres and funding of African cultural and heritage events.

Currently, the Propel Platform focuses on only the Acceleration, namely the Pre-Accelerator. As we continue to progress, we are actively seeking partnerships with universities and other relevant organisations to ensure that the program remains beneficial to the candidates.