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A Bootcamp for all Top 30 startups
Following a successful Ecosystem Events held across the three participating countries (Zambia, Angola, and South Africa) of the UNDP Meet the Toshikas Programme, an immersive and comprehensive training bootcamp was organized for the top 30 startups selected from the 256 applicants. This Bootcamp forms one part of the UNDP’s vision for equipping founders with skills, validating ideas, and accelerating growth through mentors, networks, and funding.
The Bootcamp spanned over a period of 3 weeks, running from April 22nd to May 17th across the three different countries. This intensive program delivered crucial training and feedback to participating startups, enabling the identification of their strengths and areas necessitating improvement. The training was facilitated by Double Feather Partners (DFP) in conjunction with local accelerators in each country, namely Acelera Angola in Angola, Grindstone in South Africa, and BongoHive in Zambia. To encourage high participation and flexibility in the training, the program was structured in a hybrid format, incorporating both online and in-person sessions.
The Bootcamp also formed a crucial part of the scoring process for the selection of the top two startups from each country.
Stay tuned for the announcement of the top 6 startups!
More details about the bootcamp contents below.
Participants learned to prepare and refine their pitches before the UNDP Ecosystem Event. Post-event, they received feedback, discussed best practices, and identified areas for improvement. This training equipped founders with pitch deck-making skills, helped to build confidence in presentation, and enhanced communication skills which is necessary for attracting investors and project value of the business.
Participants completed the Abaca investment assessment survey, discussed their results, and identified key investment readiness issues with guidance on how to address them.
Abaca aligns entrepreneurs with investors and other support organizations (accelerators, bootcamps, and more) on where their startup stands now and a roadmap for where to go next. The survey asks questions on team, problem and vision, value proposition, product, market, business model, scale and investor exit.
Participants learned to calculate their unit economics in a workshop and followed up to ensure understanding and application of these concepts.
This training is important for startups to analyze their cost and revenue model necessary for measuring profitability and sustainability of operations. This includes analysis of break-even and contribution margin.
Participants learned to identify customer segments and create profiles in an initial workshop, followed by a session to ensure implementation and clarity.
The training helped startups gain knowledge on targeting, positioning, and branding to sell the minimum viable product for the target market. Overall, this training helps startups to enhance their marketing strategies
Participants developed and implemented a Go-to-Market strategy in a workshop, with a follow-up session to refine and ensure clarity.
This training enabled startups to create effective marketing and sales tactics and practical execution plans to sell and acquire customers for their products.
Additional Course Materials
Along with the five main topics covered during the bootcamp training, the UNDP has prepared a number of knowledge-sharing materials to augment the business and entrepreneurial skills development of founders. These materials will be delivered in various formats – short videos and pdf.
The additional course materials will cover:
| No. | Topic | Objective and contents to be covered |
| 1 | Legal Compliance | This aims to equip startups with intellectual property protection skills such as strategies for protecting trademarks and patents, enhance understanding of data privacy regulations and best practices for data security, and explain Term Sheets and SAFE agreements and how they work. |
| 2 | Financial Monitoring | This aims to sharpen the cash flow management strategies of startups and explore key performance measurement metrics and financial reporting for investors' use. It will also provide insights on the importance of making financial forecasts and managing budgets as well as the need to have management and accounting systems in place to guide daily operations of the business. |
| 3 | Operational Readiness | This aims to introduce business process optimization strategies that enable efficiency and productivity. This includes insights on quality control, robust project management, safety and security practices, and management of people and processes. |
| 4 | Due Diligence | This aims to expand founders' understanding of investor engagement comprising the approach and process of negotiations and the essence of creating and Virtual Data Room for investment management. |
| 5 | Areas of Interest to Japanese VCs | To provide a comprehensive overview of investment activities and programs from Japanese VCs and corporations with up-to-date trends. For the purpose of the Japan Roadshow to be held in August-September, this topic will provide details of activities to be covered during the activities. This material will be available in early August. |
Bootcamp Photos
