This is part of a new Mozilla grant making mechanism, dubbed Mozilla African Innovation Mradi, which is designed to promote innovation led by and grounded in the unique needs of users on the African continent.
In Kenya, this is in collaboration with Nairobi City County Government.
The partnership is in the background of the Mozilla Africa Mradi Innovation Challenge that will be held in Nairobi in June.
The challenge will identify and support Kenyan tech entrepreneurs/startups and tech-students through an acceleration programme that will provide technical support, access to grants and ultimately, market access for their products.
“Exploring and developing new projects, technologies, and products grounded in open innovation that produce a meaningful impact on the African internet ecosystem is at the heart of our work at Mozilla Corporation,” said Alice Munyua, Senior Director at Africa Mradi.
Kenya is the regional ICT hub of East Africa, with the country being a leader in broadband connectivity, general ICT infrastructure and home to more than 300 tech start-ups.
Through the Innovation Challenge, Mozilla seeks to support this ecosystem to ensure that youth innovators across Kenya have access to information and knowledge needed to establish and run profitable startups.
Governor Johnson Sakaja said Nairobi will be working with Mozilla Africa Mradi in conducting a situation analysis of all local tech-start-ups and to build capacity of tech innovators in Nairobi so as to ensure they have equal opportunities and platforms to showcase their innovations.
This would ensure they are exposed to how venture capital investments work and trained on startup accelerator opportunities available to them in Africa.
The Africa Mradi – which translates from Kiswahili as “project” or “strategy” – is a pan-Mozilla initiative fueling innovation and social justice grounded in the needs of the African digital ecosystem, from internet users to innovators.
