- Discover synergies between the labs
- Share best practices and help new organizations emerge
- Enhance visibility of the network and her actors, share success stories
- Organize networking events and facilitate other exchanges, both online and offline
- Secure resources for the network by establishing a revolving fund
- Generally promote developments in this space and explore other common interests.
On March 3rd 2010, founders from several established African tech incubators and open collaboration spaces @HiveColab @iHub @NaiLab @Bantalabs and @ActivSpaces came together for the iHub launch in Nairobi. The meeting hosted by NaiLab (an iHub neighbor) made clear that each of the labs shares in a common vision to promote technology as a platform for entrepreneurship on the continent. The labs have a lot to gain by working together and it was in this thinking that AfriLabs was born.
As a network organization, AfriLabs seeks to build on this common vision and further promote the growth and development of the African technology sector. By working together the labs improve their chances of success, generating more success stories and decent work for young Africans, both as a means of self-employment and as job creation for others.
In the past two years we have witnessed the rise of Africa’s tech incubator. Already spaces have come online in Kampala, Nairobi, Douala and Dakar. New initiatives are coming online in Accra and Lagos and many more are on the way. Each lab offers their respective tech community a physical nexus space for meetings, events and work.
The labs serve as an accessible platform for bringing together technologists, investors, tech companies and hackers in the area. Each lab shares a focus on young entrepreneurs, Web and mobile-phone programmers and designers.
On March 3rd 2010, founders from several established African tech incubators and open collaboration spaces @HiveColab @iHub @NaiLab @Bantalabs and @ActivSpaces came together for the iHub launch in Nairobi. The meeting hosted by NaiLab (an iHub neighbor) made clear that each of the labs shares in a common vision to promote technology as a platform for entrepreneurship on the continent. The labs have a lot to gain by working together and it was in this thinking that AfriLabs was born.
As a network organization, AfriLabs seeks to build on this common vision and further promote the growth and development of the African technology sector. By working together the labs improve their chances of success, generating more success stories and decent work for young Africans, both as a means of self-employment and as job creation for others.
Already members of Afrilabs have come together successfully in their bid to implement the U.S. Department of State sponsored contest Apps4Africa. AfriLabs members have also worked to establish the Hive Colab as Kampala’s leading open collaboration space and successfully tendered to host the infoDev sponsored mobile apps lab in East Africa. AfriLabs by virtue of its on-the-ground engagement and local ownership is uniquely positioned to be a catalyst for the sector.
AfriLabs will build on this early success and from the ground up, the entrepreneurs using the spaces and the labs that service them set the mandate. This ensures Afrilabs remains grounded by the labs knee deep in the business and builds on the experience in each of their localities (initially Kenya, Uganda and Cameroon). AfriLabs sets out with the following objectives:
- Discover synergies between the labs
- Share best practices and help new organizations emerge
- Enhance visibility of the network and her actors, share success stories
- Organize networking events and facilitate other exchanges, both online and offline
- Secure resources for the network by establishing a revolving fund
- Generally promote developments in this space and explore other common interests.