We are almost at the end of 2019 and we are taking stock by looking back at the major events and highlights of the year, before looking forward to what 2020 brings.
Just like last year, it’s been an action-packed year and nothing less than a roller coaster ride for most companies but despite the harsh economic times, that hit most businesses hard, you survived and chose to be with us. We say thank you for believing in us.
As a business, a lot has happened so much that we still can’t settle for one great moment. Therefore, we’re taking stock and reflecting on a whole bunch of them.
Get ready for a nostalgic trip back over the past 12 months that made it a remarkable 365 days as we look forward to doing even more in 2020!
//Big for us this year was opening our third location in Karen at the Lush Watermark Business Park. With 14000sq ft in size, the space is currently home to over 100 companies, both multinationals and local companies.
// In the same year, we had great companies join our ever-growing community i.e Powerhive, IDH, Africa Logistics Properties, Mastercard Foundation, Acumen and many others
//We had over 50 companies join our community which was quite a great milestone, making us home to close to 300 companies across our 3 locations.
//This year we also opened our doors to over 700 people daily across all our locations and we can’t thank you enough.
// We also became home to great start-ups that were setting shop in Kenya like SWVL and Glovo who continue to be our great members
// We also gained over 10,000 followers on Twitter and the numbers are growing daily.
// Companies like Powerhive, Glovo and SWVL also continued to make us proud as they secured funding.
// Alumni members like WeFarm, Mr Green Africa, BitPesa continued making us proud by securing funds for growth.
// Alumni Member Twiga Foods and Branch also became serial investment beneficiary again securing funding from great investors like Goldman Sachs Bank, IFC and TLCom who is also a member of Nairobi Garage
//We also had interesting people visit the space, from Graca Machel, Najib Balala CS Tourism, Joseph Mucheru, CS ICT, H.E Fionnuala Quinlan, Ambassador of Ireland, The Lord Mayor of the City of London Peter Estlin, Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch Switzerland State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Susie Kitchens Deputy High Commissioner UK and Permanent Representative to the UN Environment Programme
// The year also saw a delegation of the Swiss business community, French Embassy visit our Ngong’ Road Space, Austrian Delegation, and interact with our members.
// We hosted close to 100 community events which were a huge step for us and quite impactful, bringing together speakers from across different industries and giving our members a platform to network with their peers and learn from the pacesetters.
// Apart from our own events we hosted huge events like DataHACK4fi, Africa Women in Tech, Grow with Google, Facebook Event, TEDX Parklands Masterclass and we just can’t thank the organizers enough for believing in us.
// Also, a big thank you to Liquid Telecom for powering our connectivity throughout the year and all our other partners.
// As the year comes to an end, we cannot hide our excitement for 2020 as we look forward to opening our fourth location in Spring Valley in January. See more details here.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of how far we have come this year! We are beyond excited to see what 2019 brings to us. Have a wonderful holiday time and see you in 2019 as we strive to connect, cowork and create!
Thank you for your continued support!