The NIW Startups team recently announced that the deadline for application to join the NIW.Startups program is 31st January 2018. A panel of judges will go through the applications to select the 100 pitches of the Nairobi Innovation Week. Among the 100 pitches, 15 of the most promising startups will be feted at the event.
For a startup to be among the 100 pitches, it needs to set up its profile on the portal startups.niw.co.ke. The startup profiles capture criteria items for evaluation by judges including links to profiles of individual team members within the portal.
The four main criteria for judging are;
- Ingenuity of the Idea or Product
- Scalability & Impact
- Traction (progress) & Next steps
- Team composition & commitment
A breakdown of the criteria items is available on this link. In essence, the judging will look at the enterprise holistically. “Team composition will be a very important parameter in assessing startups throughout NIW.Startups. It will demonstrate how well the founder can sell their vision and line up the right talent for their business to grow”, said John Kieti who is the NIW.Startups Coordinator in 2018.
This year, NIW has partnered with over 25 startup enablers within the ecosystem including Metta, Sinapis and Nailab who will be represented in the judging panels. Other judges will include angel investors and investment analysts from VC firms.
Once selected among the 100 pitches, winning startups that qualify will be announced on the website and our social media handles on 18th Feb 2018. On 29th Feb 2018, the startups that will be among the 100 pitches at NIW2018 will be announced. From these pitches, Kenya’s 15 most promising startups will be feted.
