Lagos’ flagship tech hub, Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB) opened as a coworking space in 2012 but its founders quickly realized that they needed to do more. Entrepreneurs were building exciting things, but there was very little money available within the ecosystem to help them realize their ideas. CcHUB’s founders thought they could help, and so launched a pre-incubation program for companies with a minimum viable product that were looking to enter the market. The original initiative was run in partnership with Tony Elumelu, and so in a way was the precursor of the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Program. It started out offering $5,000 in grant funding plus other types of support, and the impact was immediate.

Since then, CcHUB has moved to using its own resources to invest, and has also launched an incubation program for existing businesses that wanted to find product-market fit, or have found it and want to grow their customer base. Both the pre-incubation and incubation programs provide startups with funding, space, training and mentorship. Around thirty startups have graduated from the programs so far, including LifeBank, WeCyclers, Mamalette, Doctoora and Stutern. Damilola Teidi-Ayoola, director of startup support at CcHUB, says that the pre-incubation program is unique in its early-stage focus. “It’s a very risky time in a company’s life, and there are not a lot of programs focusing on it. But we believe it is important and that it helps to create a strong pipeline for the ecosystem,” she says.

Startups in the programs have access to the wider benefits of being part of CcHUB, including its community. Each year, program participants have the chance to take part in Innovation Showcase Week, which gives them an opportunity to engage with CcHUB’s partners and its corporate network. “We have a very strong network, and we are able to bring that to the startups. We can do quick introductions that are based on relationships,” says Damilola.

Solve a clearly-defined problem. 
The businesses we support need to provide important value to a large number of potential customers.

Know your customer.
You need to know who you are solving a problem for and have a clearly defined customer segment.

Be creative, but also simple.
We like innovative solutions, but you should be able to describe it in 140 characters.

Have a strong team.
The founding team needs to have the passion and the competence to execute the concept.

startups@cchubnigeria.com