Kwara shortlisted for the second Wimbart Office Hours cohort

Kwara among 30 African companies shortlisted for the second Wimbart Office Hours cohort

Kwara, a digital banking platform for SACCOs has been shortlisted among 30 African companies for the second cohort of the Wimbart Office Hours programme.

Wimbart Office Hours is a programme by Wimbart,  an independent PR agency specialising in Africa and emerging markets, with a focus on the continent’s tech and start-up sectors to produce hyper-targeted, relevant and meaningful media campaigns for clients.

The programme equips early-stage technology start-ups with the PR and communications tools needed to help scale their businesses.

In partnership with Pan-African early-stage fund Ventures Platform, and leading media platform Techpoint Africa, the three-month programme will see Kwara and the other companies get PR and business mentorship.

Launched in March 2020, the pilot Wimbart Office Hours Programme saw 22 start-ups, including Crop2Cash, Ecodudu and Wellahealth selected from a pool of over 80 applicants from across Africa, Europe and the US.

Successful start-ups joined an in-depth PR webinar + Q&A with Wimbart founder and Managing Director Jessica Hope, followed by dedicated one-on-one sessions with senior members of the Wimbart team, that covered deep dives into how PR could support their specific business goals.

The power of storytelling, the anatomy of a solid press release, and the art of pitching to journalists were just some of the topics covered during the programme.

Office Hours participants reported some impressive milestones, including coverage in top tier international and pan-African media outlets, increased customer traction, and interest from investors, as some of the early outcomes.

The spirit and practical nature of the programme are set to continue as Wimbart has launched an online Alumni Network to continue supporting the early-stage start-ups and allow peer-to-peer collaboration.

Over the past four months, the Wimbart Office Hours programme has allowed us to share PR knowledge, deliver mentorship, and learn a lot about what we can do to support early-stage African start-ups.

According to the Wimbart Website, the second cohort received applications from over 120 start-ups operating in 21 countries. The final 30 were offering tech-enabled solutions for Africans on the continent and in the diaspora which vary from finance and health to childcare and dating.

Similarly to the first edition, the programme will kick off with an introductory PR webinar with Wimbart Founder Jessica Hope.

Joining the subsequent webinars will be Kola Aina, Founder of Ventures Platform, and Adewale Yusuf, Founder of Techpoint, who will drill deeper into the importance of a robust communications strategy for investment and press activity.

Dedicated one-on-one online mentoring sessions with senior Wimbart PR professionals and advisors from Ventures Platform start-ups will be tasked with developing communications strategies to support their goals.

At the end of the programme, start-ups will join the Wimbart Alumni Network where they can continue to share and learn. With each programme Wimbart, aims to improve and increase the value we add to the start-ups we have the opportunity to mentor.

Congratulations to team Kwara. We are glad to be part of your growth.