The Graduation of Founder Institute’s Lagos Spring 2022 Cohort took place on Wednesday, June 1, 2022.
The event which also doubled as a Business and Leadership Accountability Workshop celebrated the newly formed companies and their founders who had gone through the 14-weeks gruesome program. The cohort started with 57 founders and only 16 made it through to the graduation.
Keynote speakers Tomi Davies of Greentec Capital, Yemi Keri of Rising Tides Africa, and Obinna Ukachukwu of Sterling Bank spoke at the event hosted by Founder Institute Lagos in collaboration with Sterling Bank, Plc.
The speakers spoke on time management, effective leadership, the ability to influence, and managing emotions and employees as a leader.
The speakers advised the founders to build for the future, be gentle with themselves, and build brands that create trust.
The 16 founders who made it through to the end of the program have gone through weeks of reiteration, review, and feedback from their peers and mentors.
Completing the Founder Institute is an honor. The program is challenging, and the expectations are demanding. What these founders have achieved is commendable.
Through the Founder Institute program, these founders have launched companies operating in various sectors including Healthtech, Agrictech, Edtech, Fintech, Legaltech, etc. Oluseyi Adebayo-Olubi’s Africa Pageants is building a web and mobile app for the African pageant industry.
Bestie Atti’s Corporate Bestie is an all-in-one tool that enables founders to incorporate and launch their businesses without stress or complex paperwork with access to incorporation services.
Dauda Sanusi’s Hirefarms Ltd is an agri-asset management company that provides farm-as-a-service to people who want to invest in agriculture for long-term wealth gains.
These founders and their startups are some of the companies launched through the FI program that are
providing solutions to some of the problems faced by Nigerians.
Also in attendance at the event were Ifedy Eze, Esq, the MD of Founder Institute Lagos, Chukwuemaka Fred Agbata, the Regional Director, Founder Institute Africa, and Seun Abimbola, co-founder of RentIt and the President of Founder Institute Lagos Alumni Association who all addressed the graduands and wished them well in their endeavors.
The event was anchored by Comfort Onyaga, founder of Izanu Africa, Ltd, an FI Lagos portfolio company.
For the graduands, this is only the beginning of their journey to scale and build fast-growing startups.
Founder Institute Lagos is the Lagos chapter of Founder Institute, the world’s largest pre-seed accelerator. Its well-structured programs are framed to set up founders and their startups for success.
Through its well-established critical support networks, founders have the opportunity to connect with other founders, partners, alumni, and more than 15,000 mentors globally.
Founder Institute has operated in Lagos for three years and its 70+ portfolio companies have gone on to build highly scalable startups that have created values for over 60,000 users with transactions worth over NGN337million and 180+ jobs created.
“To me, FI is Formula One for startups. You could come in as a single driver and the next minute you have a team and are readied on the formation lap. From there, you are set to take on real-life challenges as they come in the different curves and turns of the varying laps of entrepreneurship. This is also a family of solutionists” said Okechukwu Nwankwo, founder of Yeko Foods about the Founder Institute program.
About Founder Institute
Known as the navy seal for startups, Founder Institute is the world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses.
Since 2009, FI’s structured accelerator programs have helped over 5,000 entrepreneurs raise over $1.5 billion in funding.
Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 90 countries, FI’s mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide.
FI helps pre-seed entrepreneurs and teams build get-to traction and funding by establishing a critical support network of local startup experts that are invested in their success, and by providing a structured and challenging business-building process that has helped its alumni raise over $1.5 billion.
Leaders of the world’s fastest-growing startups have used the Founder Institute to raise funding, build a co-founding team, get into seed accelerators, generate traction, recruit a team, build a product, transition from employee to entrepreneur, and more.
The mentor-driven program includes 14 weeks of immersive education, critical appraisals, and meaningful discussions.
Founders leave the program with a well-formed corporation, a local network of experienced entrepreneurs and investors, significant product progress, and more importantly, clear and actionable next steps for growth.
Applications are currently open for Lagos Virtual Fall 2022. Visit here to learn more about the FI Lagos Virtual Fall program.
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