Building the next generation of entrepreneurs – high growth (scalable) and value creating – in Sierra Leone is not a walk in the park; it is not just about incubating start-ups and or accelerating scale ups. It is about cultivating shared values; about connecting ecosystem actors, and about taking a long view.
The current cohort of 12 start-ups, have been with us from 6 months to 12 months. We have followed the Start-ups commons framework, and all but save 2 are well into the developing an MVP. We have created our own customised MVP development template that focuses on validation—validating the product/service, the target segment/customer. Building the framework for validation, our cohorts are developing User Personas and Empathy maps. These user personas are realistic as possible…with names such as Aminata and Sorie…or Mr. Davies. Our cohorts have developed group personas and single user personas so that the MVP captures the basic needs and goals of a single user or a defined group. Much of the “needs and goals” were already developed by our cohorts through their value proposition canvass (as part of defining the value proposition for the BMC). In the value proposition canvass they looked at the customer jobs, pain, gains etc…
