Enterprise

Three Kenyan startups set to host global enterprise plan

lori

Lori Systems is an e-logistics marketplace for trucking. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Three Kenyan startups have been picked to host Global Entrepreneurship Laboratory (G-Lab) projects in what is set to boost their growth locally and globally.

Africa Talking (AT) Labs, Lori Systems and SunCulture were selected based on their business models, growth potential, and successes to date.

The three startups will be working in collaboration with the Cambridge-based MIT Sloan School of Management, one of the world’s top-ranked business schools and founder of the international entrepreneurial programme.

“When determining project scope, host companies draw from a broad spectrum of business challenges such as growth, new market entry, pricing, marketing, benchmarking, fundraising, and financial strategy,” read a statement from G-Lab.

G-Lab strongly emphasizes concrete “leave-behinds” as a primary component of the teams’ project deliverables.

In the process, the MBA students gain real-world experience in creating, developing and running young enterprises with diverse economic infrastructures as well as thinking about the role of politics, culture, and other non-economic variables.

Following selection of the three startups, teams of MBA students from MIT Sloan will be working on-site in Kenya throughout January to provide them with “high-impact insight and analysis”.

Nearly 2,500 MIT Sloan G-Lab students have since 2000 worked with host companies on 643 projects at 482 startups in emerging and frontier markets in 54 countries.

Twenty years on approximately 15 G-Lab projects have been hosted in startups and companies across Kenya.

AT is a startup studio that seeks to co-create companies with founders by giving them access to resources, including AT’s technology platform, engineering capacity, physical space, business services and access to capital.

Lori Systems is an e-logistics marketplace for trucking which simplifies freight hauling across Africa. Its platform is revolutionising the cargo-transport value chain, focusing on full truckloads.

SunCulture’s water pumps and irrigation systems enable farmers to access a steady supply of water for agricultural and household use, engage in precision irrigation, store energy to power lights and appliances, and receive personalised farming recommendations.