Deadline: 1 December 2023
Applicants are being encouraged to apply for the Africa Startup Law Accelerator Program.
The Africa Startup Law Accelerator will bridge the gaps by providing a tailor-made 12-week virtual program designed to accelerate the business growth, legal setup & compliance, operational capacity and impact of early-stage and growth-stage startups working on legal-tech and justice innovations.
Training Programme Features
The 12-week virtual training program of the Africa Startup Law Accelerator focuses on the following among others:
- Business Structuring & Legal Compliance: How to structure your business to avoid legal risks and to achieve legal compliance in the sector your startup operates in.
- Product Development: How to refine your product using human-centered design to improve the user experience.
- Commercial Strategy: How to identify the market opportunity, navigate operational bottlenecks, create growth strategies and explore new business models & revenue streams.
- Marketing & Branding: How to define your target audience, create marketing goals & strategies, digital marketing and build a brand.
- Business Development, Sales & Partnership Building: How to build sales strategies, how to build and manage partnerships, business presentation and negotiation skills.
- Financial Modelling & Analysis: How to prepare financial statements, build financial models, forecasting, revenue assumptions and analyze financial outcomes.
- Investor Readiness & Fundraising: How to prepare investor decks, storytelling, understanding the different types of funding, and the basics of valuation calculation.
Programme Benefits
- Access to the Lawyers Hub community of African Lawyers for customer discovery, product testing and growth.
- Opportunity to showcase your legal-tech startup at the annual Africa Law Tech Festival and Africa Legal Innovation Week.
- Tailor-made and practical virtual training program for scaling legal-tech startups delivered by industry experts.
- Investment readiness support and connection to legal-tech investors for funding.
- Customized training on how startups can contribute to legal-tech policy in their country and access to a vibrant policy engagement forum.
- Access to premium legal advisory services and business support services from professionals.
- Access to the exclusive network of continental ecosystem partners, toolkits and tech events.
- Business coaching and mentorship suited to your startup needs.
Expected Outcomes
- Upon completion of the accelerator program, it is expected that the selected startups will achieve:
- An increased customer base that should translate to increased revenues
- An improved user experience of their product.
- An increase in operational efficiency in their business.
- Formal registration, incorporation and legal compliance of their business.
- Acquired network of potential suppliers and customers.
- Built relationships with investors.
- Developed a database of international business contacts.
- Enjoyed continental and international exposure and visibility.
- Built a presence in all major digital channels, especially on social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn).
Who are they looking for?
- The Africa Startup Law Accelerator is looking for early and growth-stage startups in East Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa and North Africa regions providing innovative tech solutions to:
- Enhance legal practice for legal practitioners through automated contracts management, matter management, governance, risk, and compliance technologies, E-billing, collaboration tools, digital legal information and case law access tools, cloud services, legal data insights and A.I or blockchain registries
- Enhance access to legal services for small businesses in Africa through digital legal self-service platforms, affordable legal advisory platforms, online dispute resolution or legal assurance solutions.
- Enhance access to access to justice for ordinary citizens through affordable legal self-service platforms, legal information and advice platforms, government document processing, online dispute resolution or legal assurance solutions.
Eligibility Criteria
The 12-week virtual training program of the Africa Startup Law Accelerator focuses on the following among others:
- The startup provides legal-tech solutions that enhance legal practice for legal practitioners or enhance access to justice and legal services for ordinary citizens and small businesses in Africa.
- The startup has a working solution with traction that provides evidence for the potential for the product to be a fit for its market.
- The startup has a strong team with complementary skills and shared vision, driven by making impact, and led by inspiring founder(s)
- The startup has a strong sustainability and revenue model that shows potential and evidence for the startup to become financially sustainable within a reasonable timeframe, whether a non-profit or for-profit.
- The startup has ambition and sound plans to scale into different markets beyond the immediate target market (depending on how far along the startup is in its growth journey).
For more information, visit Lawyers Hub.
