Startup Sauna in East Africa

Startup Sauna Nairobi delegation together with the Kenyan winners of the pitching event

Serenditiopus beginnings

In the autumn of 2013, I was in a tennis class with Inka Mero, a well-known lady in the Finnish startup community who had previously been a mentor on my first startup and was then Head Coach of the renowned Startup Sauna accelerator. Between games, I was telling her about the interesting things happening at iHub Nairobi — a startup co-working and incubator space I used to visit when staying with my parents (who lived in Kenya at the time). Inka then proposed the idea of taking Startup Sauna out to Kenya for one of the numerous Startup Sauna pitching and coaching local events. 

Inka Mero warms up the iHub Nairobi community on the first day of the local event

So I reached out to Jesicca Caloço, the iHub Director of Partnerships, to see what might be possible. I had previously met Jesicca both in Kenya and when she was a visiting speaker in Finland and knew she had a can-do spirit, so wasn’t surprised to find she was totally up for helping us to co-host the event inside iHub. 

Richard von Kaufmann giving a talk at the Startup Sauna Nairobi event

Fortunately the costs could be kept to a minimum thanks to my parents volunteering to accommodate and take care of the Finnish delegation, which would also go on to include the then Startup Sauna CEO, Juho Kokkola and Slush Chair, Ilkka Kivimäki. Slush co-founder Peter Vesterbacka was also due to join but had to pull out due to urgent Angry Bird responsibilities in China. 

The top ten pitching startups got one-to-one coaching sessions

All parties came away highly satisfied that some great startups had been coached and a considerable amount of mutual knowledge shared – including increased respect and understanding between the local tech hubs and students from some of Kenya's leading universities (Aalto University also participated via their Global Impact department). 

One of the winning pitching teams, Toto Health, later had their costs covered by Startup Sauna to attend the renowned accelerator back in Finland, where they improved pitching skills undoubtedly helped them to go on to receive substantially more funding. 

Adventures into Tanzania and Ethiopia

Given the success of the 2014 Kenya trip, we garnered sponsorship (in part from a Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs project) to do an extended trip to East Africa – this time to Tanzania and Ethiopia.  We were fortunate that Tiina Juvonen (Think Africa co-founder) was able to go ahead on her own resources and lay the groundwork with her personal local connections —particularly Jumanne Rajabu Mtambalike (now CEO of Sahara Ventures), Catherinerose and Johnpaul Barretto – siblings who have been highly influential in the Tanzanian innovation scene), and Markos Lemma (co-founder and CEO of iceaddis). Inka Mero came again and we were joined by Mike Bradshaw (later to be Startup Sauna Head Coach). 

Tiina Juvonen together with Markos Lemma (co-founder and CEO of iceaddis) and Selam Kebede (an Ethiopia graduate of Finland’s Aalto University and now East African Director of startup VC Antler)

We were also joined by the Finnish journalist Harri Junttila (now Editor in Chief at Alma Talent), whom we had originally met in Nairobi when he came to write an article on the Kenya event. This time, in true Sauna spirit, he stepped in to replace one of the Finnish coaches who had had to pull out at the last minute due to illness.

Startup Sauna Dar Es Salam

Something that stood out at these East Africa events was the significantly higher proportion of lady entrepreneurs attending when compared to usual Startup Sauna local events. The startups had great determination despite facing far bigger challenges than most European ones. And in all the countries we received a confident warm-hearted welcome as counterparts rather than visiting experts. 

Startup Sauna Addis

While some might dismiss this kind of activity as startup tourism, here is how I see the benefits. The very process of cooperating to co-host these events requires considerable work and in the process the teams really get to know each other. The startups who take part get both valuable advice and inspiration from globally experienced coaches – and in this case the winners even had the opportunity to attend the renowned Helsinki Startup Sauna accelerator all costs paid. 

But the longterm benefits can also not be underestimated. Just this year, I reached out to Jesicca Caloço again regarding Ambitious Africa, and once again she didn’t hesitate to help out and is now part of the Ambitious Africa Kenya Team!