Background
Established for people (from Universities and the general public) who passionate about starting innovative startups and creating innovative solutions, Makerere Innovation and Incubation Center (MIIC) is business incubator (company limited by guarantee) dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs and innovators to transform their ideas into successful startups through extending various forms of entrepreneurship mentorship and business development support to help founders build innovative solutions, launch products in the market and access to startup capital among others.
MIIC was established in 2017 and is backed by partnership between the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED) and Makerere University.
In this section, we highlight what happens in MIIC programs and how we support founders, innovators, organizations and public sector to undertake and achieve their startup and innovation goals through our programs.
The Goal
Our goal is to help Startups and innovators with the resources, mentorship, and tools necessary to develop, test and scale viable business models.
We support early-stage founders at different stages from Idea, Prototype, Minimum Viable product to a launched business across sectors and industries like Agri-tech, fintech, Ed-Tech, Software & IT, Healthcare, E-commerce & Retail, Environment & Climate, Tourism, Entertainment & Sports, Energy among others.
We know the power of technology in unlocking innovation across all sectors, so we are so interested in founders and businesses that have keen interest in using technology in to develop and adopt practical and valuable solutions to real-world challenges
Our strategy for Innovation & Incubation
We offer tailored Incubation and innovation programs that offer, Structured Business Development support and clear deliverables at every phase of startup development.
Select High Potentials
Through our expert review panels, we identify potential ideas and committed founders through evaluation processes that guide us in understanding the reality of problems being solved, the feasibility of solutions being developed, the teams and the market targeted to know whether a startup is a good fit our program, funding. This helps us filter high-potential ventures from a large pool of applicants.
Tailored Support innovators & Founders
Ideation
We help aspiring entrepreneurs generate, refine, and validate business ideas that can be developed and grown into viable startups.
Through design thinking sessions and field market research, we help startups understand their users, define problems, ideate solutions, and prototype.
We offer them guidance to understand their market through guided market research and industry trends that offer them insights on competitor landscape and target customer segments.
Mentorship & Advise
Startups are paired with mentors who guide, support and challenge startup founders to help them grow their ventures faster and smarter through practical experience.
Startups also get a to choose from out pool of mentors based on their needs.
Startups set goals with their mentors to set expectations. They meet their mentors on an agreed check-in frequency (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly).
Through online and physical check-ins, mentors regularly check-in on; problem-solving on current startup challenges, review of KPIs and progress as well offering decision-making support.
Mentorship is offered in various forms like.
- Support from a dedicated mentor
- Group mentorship where startups are mentored together often by a panel
- Mentors host sessions on topics like fundraising, hiring.
- Office meeting slots with domain experts
*Product to Market launch support
Through our customer discovery & validation mentorship, startups get guidance on identifying ideal customers and early adopters through customer conversations and interviews.
Startups are guided with launching their products through trying go-to-Market Strategies and creating sales channels (such as online, B2B, direct sales, etc.), pricing, packaging and building early traction (through referrals, partnerships).
Funding & Investment
- We offer investment ready startups with direct microgrants or seed capital from $1K– $50K in exchange for an equity partnership (usually 3–10%) based on milestone achievement and standard terms.
- We facilitate access to external Investors through investor networks and demo days. We prepare startups to pitch and then introduce them to Angel investors, Early-stage VCs, Impact funds or donor-backed funds
Community Cohort engagement
We host knowledge-sharing sessions, panels, or keynotes designed to inspire, and connect startup founders, teams, investors, and ecosystem players. Speakers are often founders, industry experts from startup ecosystems who share stories and experiences of their early days of starting their startups and their experiences during our incubation programs. We also offer a chance for our startups to participate in tech events, demo days, or ecosystem community.
We are in touch with our cohort innovators and founders through our incubator networking platform and WhatsApp groups.
Funding & Investment
- We offer investment ready startups with direct microgrants or seed capital from $1K– $50K in exchange for an equity partnership (usually 3–10%) based on milestone achievement and standard terms.
- We facilitate access to external Investors through investor networks and demo days. We prepare startups to pitch and then introduce them to Angel investors, Early-stage VCs, Impact funds or donor-backed funds
Alumni Engagement
We keep connected and offer support to our startups after they graduate from out programs.
- Communication – Our alumni can always reach out to us through our private communities (Email, WhatsApp,) where they access any recommended opportunities for funding, PR, jobs, events and resources, collaboration and advice.
- Reunions – We also host alumni events such as reunions, mixers, or dinners where we invite alumni as speakers, panelists, or mentors.
- Spotlights & Stories – We share success stories of our alumni in newsletters, podcasts, social media where we also celebrate milestones line funding rounds, product launches, acquisitions.
- Referrals – We work with our alumni to refer new startups, join selection panels and be guest mentors or evaluators.
- Follow-on support – We introduce them to potential funders, accelerators, corporate partners.
Talent Access
Finding the right talent and co-founders is never easy. Through our talent and co-founder matching programs, we facilitate connecting startups with pre-qualified people i.e. co-founders, early hires, advisors, freelancers, or interns who can help them build, grow, and scale effectively.
Talent and co-founder directory
University & fellowship partnerships
Corporate Innovation
We support both public and private sector organizations to realize their innovation goals through:
Facilitating partnerships between startups and corporations.
We run industry intrapreneurship bootcamps and public hackathons, we help industry organizations to solve business problems to develop new solutions, discover new markets and explore emerging technologies.
Apply to MIIC programs
Interested in joining us as an innovator, founder or organization in need of innovation support services, select programs of your choice to get started.