Varsity wins British Council grant of Kshs. 180 M grant & named a Centre of Excellence

The University of Nairobi in partnership with the City University of London and the Change School, UK, has won the British Council grant worth Kshs. 180 M (£1.2m) for Innovation for African Universities (IAU) Programme Centre of Excellence.

The Innovation for African Universities programme is designed to support the development of Africa – UK University partnerships that build institutional capacity for higher education engagement in entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems in selected Sub-Saharan African countries, namely Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa.

The 18-month programme seeks to strengthen the role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in African entrepreneurship ecosystems and facilitate the development of skills required to build industries, companies, products, and services.

The call for applications is now open and accessible via https://bit.ly/2SDhS9o on the British Council website.

The desired results and impact include a strengthened entrepreneurship ecosystem and improved support for young people seeking to develop job creation entities and sustainable enterprises.

By leveraging institutional partnerships, the IAU programme will create and implement 20 funded entrepreneurship projects in the next 15 months.  HEIs drawn from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and the UK will be eligible to apply for participation in the program.  The programme targets applicants with expertise in designing and delivering activities that support entrepreneurship engagement by students, entreprenuers and faculty.  

Universities from Sub-Saharan African countries are required to identify a UK university partner and a local entrepreneurship ecosystem player (Ecosystem Player could be but not limited to Technology Hub, Entrepreneurship Support Organisation) to partner with and together determine an entrepreneurship and/or innovation challenge to jointly address.