Program Background
Accelerate Africa is an early stage, pre-seed focused accelerator program that runs 2 cohorts per year for up to 10 startups, from across the continent who get support in areas such as storytelling, team development, go to market, product development, and fundraising.
With ~2000 applications from 3 cohorts, and 30 startups having been part of the full accelerator program, we have helped founders raise $11.5M since IITF II May 2024. Our mission is to accelerate Africa’s bold and visionary founders who turn collective challenges into global business opportunities by getting them on a path $1M within 18 months
We’re excited to be launching a Request for Innovation focused on Hardware & Infrastructure Technology in Africa in partnership with some of the largest hardware and infrastructure companies in the world.
RFI Background: Africa’s digital and industrial future will be built not only on software, but on a deep integration between software and hardware + infrastructure. From telecom towers and energy systems to mobility devices and locally made electronics, the continent faces urgent challenges in scaling tools, energy, connectivity, and sensing infrastructure.
These challenges create billion-dollar opportunities for startups to design, manufacture, and finance the hardware backbone of Africa’s economy — while enabling talent to build and maintain it.
We’re looking for bold founders to solve these problems with AI, IoT, ML, blockchain, hardware innovation, and new business models.
Important Dates and Deadlines
Application Opens: Nov 3, 2025
Application Closes: Nov 21, 2025
Notifications Go Out: Dec 8, 2025
Launch Weekend in Ilorin: Jan 15 – Jan 18
Demo Weekend: Feb 25 – Feb 27 – 2026
Demo Day: Feb 28 – 2026
Africa’s digital economy is on the rise — expected to top $180 billion by 2025 — but it’s built on fragile foundations. Every time a Lagos tower goes dark from stolen diesel, or a Ghanaian mechanic can’t afford modern tools, or e-waste piles up in a Nairobi dump, the promise of growth stalls.
The paradox is clear: demand is exploding — millions of people are coming online, factories and farms are digitizing, logistics is scaling. But the value chains underneath — energy, talent, connectivity, hardware, governance, community trust — remain underdeveloped, import-dependent, and fragmented.
We believe the next generation of African unicorns will not come from copying Silicon Valley software plays, but from building and owning these value chains end-to-end.
Across Africa, energy is both the economy’s biggest bottleneck and its biggest cost center. Nigeria alone spends an estimated $14 billion annually on diesel, and up to 40% of telecom tower downtime is linked to energy failures. In Kenya, manufacturing firms pay nearly double the electricity tariffs of their Asian peers, eroding competitiveness.
At the same time, new experiments are proving alternatives work: Rensource’s solar micro-grids in Lagos markets, Arnergy’s lithium-ion battery systems for SMEs, and Daystar Power’s hybrid solar-diesel for corporates (so successful Shell acquired them). E-mobility startups like MAX.ng and SolarTaxi in Ghana are showing that motorcycles and delivery fleets can run on batteries instead of petrol.
The challenge is not technology — it’s building integrated value chains that stretch from generation to storage to financing to recycling.
Africa is undergoing the world’s fastest urbanization — 40,000 people move into African cities daily — driving demand for builders, electricians, machinists, and technicians. Yet the continent faces a skills deficit of over 50 million workers by 2030 (World Bank).
The deeper problem is that even when talent exists, they often lack access to modern tools. A Bosch drill kit can cost ₦250,000 (≈$200), more than the average monthly income of an artisan. Without financing, most technicians either rent low-quality tools or drop out of higher-value contracts.
Andela showed that you can build a global talent pipeline by training and certifying African software engineers. Why not the same for hardware technicians — those who will install solar panels, maintain IoT networks, and repair e-mobility fleets?
We’d love to see:
Over 600 million Africans lack reliable internet access. Even in connected cities like Lagos or Nairobi, enterprises struggle with slow, costly compute because workloads are processed in European or Asian data centers. Farmers in Kaduna can’t connect soil sensors. Clinics in Eldoret can’t run AI diagnostics locally.
Infrastructure companies like MainOne (Nigeria, now acquired by Equinix) and Liquid Telecom have built the backbone, but the “middle mile” — rural towers, IoT networks, and edge compute — is still thin. Meanwhile, startups like BRCK in Kenya have proven rugged Wi-Fi works, and Twiga Foods has built supply chains on IoT connectivity.
The opportunity is to create the infrastructure layer for the everyday economy: local compute, low-power networks, neutral connectivity models that make IoT and AI practical for African industries.
Africa imports nearly all its electronics, creating a $60+ billion annual trade deficit, while simultaneously producing 2.9 million tons of e-waste each year (UN). In Lagos, informal recyclers burn discarded devices in the open, releasing toxic fumes — while at the same time, universities import expensive kits for circuit design labs.
Yet we’ve seen glimpses of what’s possible: Zinox has assembled PCs locally, Buni Hub in Tanzania 3D-printed prosthetics, and CDCare is financing phones and laptops on layaway for thousands of Nigerians.
The gap is not demand — it’s building localized, circular hardware value chains: fab labs for spare parts, e-waste reuse into new circuits, affordable financing to expand access. With global partners like Bosch, Africa could leapfrog into distributed, small-batch manufacturing that meets local needs without waiting for imports.
Infrastructure theft in Africa is rampant. Nigerian tower operators lose up to 30% of OPEX to stolen diesel and batteries. In South Africa, Eskom has had to deploy the military to prevent cable theft from crippling power supply. Beyond theft, large corporates operate in silos: fleets, warehouses, and NOCs are managed separately, leading to inefficiencies and higher costs.
This is not just a security issue — it’s a governance issue across the value chain. What if assets could disable themselves when stolen? What if drones or low-cost deterrents kept rural sites safe? What if fleets, warehouses, and HR systems were integrated into a single predictive operating system?
Every tower, factory, or solar farm lives in a community. In Nigeria, over 30% of tower downtime comes from land disputes or social tensions. In Ghana, protests over land rights have blocked mining and energy projects. In Kenya, mistrust between rural communities and infrastructure developers has slowed rural electrification.
Today, grievance systems are reactive — companies only respond once conflict escalates. Startups can flip this dynamic by embedding communities into the value chain itself. Imagine WhatsApp-based reporting platforms, AI sentiment analysis of local radio, predictive hotspot mapping, or CSR dashboards tied directly to uptime.
Africa’s first wave of unicorns — Jumia, Flutterwave, Interswitch — built on existing hardware and infrastructure. The next wave will be those who build the value chains themselves:
The founders who tackle these challenges will not only create billion-dollar companies, they will lay the industrial foundation for Africa’s next 50 years.
Empowering Incubators & Accelerators to Register, Monitor
and Identify the Best Founders at AI speed.
© 2025 Startup CoachAI. All rights reserved