A new initiative knowns as Startup 360 Connect set to make a difference

Details: East Africa; 21 March 2025; 138

By JULIUS MBALUTO

A new initiative known as Startup 360 Connect has just been announced. Its purpose is to fast track East African startups into the UK's investor and talents networks, offering access to Seed and source funding, international partnerships and global visibility.

This programme is a collaboration between the UK Government(via the UK-Kenya Tech Hub), Qhala and Jasiri Network. The programme will run from March to June 2025. It's objective is to connect high-growth and high integrity startups in Fintech, Agritech, Climatech, Healthtech and other in demand sectors.

Nancy Masila of Jasiri Network and Enos Masinde Weswa of UK-Kenya Tech Hub in Nairobi are the programme Managers and Anne Salim of Qhala is the project Manager. During an interview with this newspaper, Anne said that Qhala was a digital acceleration lab and it connected low key players in the industry to big players. Currently, the focus is to connect startups to access investors and other resources in the UK with a view to gain global visibility.

Enos Masinde Waswe - Country Director (UK-Kenya Tech Hub)

Nancy Masila - Jasiri Network

Anne Salim - Product Manager - Qhala

Nancy Masila of Jasiri Network told this Newspaper that she was very excited to be part of this project. She said her key role is to give new startups access to networks and knowledge acquired for them to excel internationally. She said there was a lot more money within the Diaspora which key players could register startups and make a difference back home.

Enos Masinde Weswa Country Director of UK-Kenya Tech Hub said that the key goal was to connect startups with potential investors and networks in the UK. He said that there were three Tech- hubs in Africa, UK-Kenya Tech Hub, UK-Nigeria Tech Hub and UK-South Africa Tech-Hub. The main purpose of this is to support start-ups and help them grow to gain global visibility.