Wennovation Hub, Nigeria’s pioneer innovation accelerator, has announced its expansion into the Afro-Caribbean corridor.
According to a statement by the Hub, the Wehub-Barbados will be the hub’s first location outside Africa and is part of its “Global Scale” strategy.
It said the Caribbean economy amidst other countries in the Americas is favorable to startups as major regulatory adjustments have been implemented to attract increased trade and business activity into the global tourism hotbed.
The statement listed some of these reforms that have made it easier to start a business in the region to include business registrations, enforcing contracts, and paying taxes.
“The We-hub Barbados will aim to continue its impact by implementing founder catalyst programs and providing startup support services such as Market Entry and Consulting Services for African and Caribbean Startups looking to expand operations across the Atlantic.
“The Hub will also provide Training and Investment Readiness Programs to Barbados-based start-ups, businesses, and governments in a bid to assist the development of their tech ecosystems in ways that would improve the cross-business opportunities for Caribbean startups entering the African market and lead an innovation-driven post-covid recovery. It will also partner with corporates/institutions in the co-creation and execution of bespoke programs in social impact sectors,: the statement notes.
To this effect, executive partner of the LoftyInc Group, Michael Oluwagbemi, said, “We are on a bold mission to creatively invest in ideas, empower entrepreneurs, and enable digital innovation for emerging economies and we have done this over the last 11 years.
“With globalisation gradually breaking barriers and speeding up economic integration, we believe now is the right time to scale our efforts globally to deliver value and champion the interconnectivity of markets and economies and this is the first step in that direction”.
Also, managing director of Antrilis, the local site for the hub, Andrew Payne, while speaking at the signing of the collaboration agreement between the two groups, re-emphasised his support for the project saying, “Antirlis is open to enabling and collaborating with mission-focused organisations like Wennovation and the LoftyInc group.
“We look forward to unlocking the economic benefits powered by collaborations such as this,” he added.
The Wehub-Barbados is a strategic initiative that combines a global network, a proven founder education, and value creation model with experts from Wennovation Hub Nigeria, The Neo Hub Botswana, and the LoftyInc Group.
