School holds informal meet for prospective candidates in Nigeria

folarin okunola

May 1, 2015 7:44 PM

This year’s event was the second conducted by the institution in Nigeria and was RSVP’d by over 80 participants, with partners like Samsung slated to feature at the event.

MEST

Entrepreneurial training institution, MEST Ghana, held an informal meet-up for candidates interested in the school’s widely acclaimed one-year training program today at the Lagos Garage.

This year’s event was the second conducted by the institution in Nigeria and was RSVP’d by over 80 participants, with partners like Samsung slated to feature at the event. The school also provided applicants who decided to attend the event with rides via Uber.

Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) is an institution that provides training, investment and incubation to aspiring technology entrepreneurs in Africa with links to the famous Silicon Valley in the US.

The school has a proven track record, having invested $15 million in supporting West African entrepreneurs, graduating two hundred individual entrepreneurs as well as launching over 20 tech startups through its seed funding and mentorship programs.

MEST began expansion into Nigeria last year, through partnership with Interswitch, to extend its training program into the country’s rapidly growing domestic ICT industry. Speaking on the initiative, Federal Minister of Communication Technology Dr. Omobola Johnson said, “The Interswitch-MEST training program is a welcome development that complements the work of the Federal Ministry in developing the skills and reach of local ICT entrepreneurs in Nigeria. We look forward to the success of this initiative and world class software companies in Nigeria, being created as a direct result of this collaboration.”

This year’s event kicked off on Thursday a general overview of last year’s event as well as informational sessions with both Samsung and Mr. Yomi Adedeji, founder of Softcom. The event today with a continuation of yesterday’s events to fulfill the school’s aim of getting to know candidates who have applied online in advance of the much more formal in-person interviews which would later in June.

MEST is open to application into its admission program and encourages candidates with a passion to start a software company, get involved in entrepreneurship in the West African region, looking to refine their business and tech skills as well as grow their network, and can commit to a year in Accra, Ghana to apply for the school’s programs. However, applicants in Nigeria must have completed their NYSC, and have at least 3-5 years entrepreneurial or corporate experience.

Interested candidates can apply at http://meltwater.org/school/admissions/

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