Are you a tech startup in Kenya seeking to expand your business?

Well, Safaricom, M-Pesa Africa and Sumitomo Corporation have made calls for the Spark Accelerator program seeking to empower early stage startups to scale their businesses.

The program running for three months will enable the startups that enroll to receive training, mentorship, funding and market support to prepare them for long-term success.

Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa says the partnership between the telco, M-Pesa and the Japanese Fortune 500 global trading and business investment firm will address hurdles facing startups and is part of Safaricom’s ambition to be a purpose led technology company.

“With the accelerator, we are offering more than just capital injection which is what we did previously with Spark Fund. We have restructured the program to address the challenges that hinder early startups from growing to scale,” stated Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa.

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In the first phase, the Spark Accelerator targets Fintech and Content startups through an ecosystem-based approach with a team of experts to pick and accelerate chosen startups.

Sumitomo Corporation General Manager, Smart Communications Platform Business Division, Katsuya Kashiki, says the firm will leverage its vast business experience to establish innovative businesses and enable the local startups.

“Through this program, we will contribute to the development of the African economy, human resource development, and the realization of a more prosperous life for the people,” indicated Kashiki.

Startups taking part in the programme will receive technical support to develop mini-apps embedded into Safaricom’s M-Pesa Super App and access more than 4 million customers.

M-Pesa Africa Managing Director Sitoyo Lopokoiyit noted that M-Pesa connects more than 60 million customers and five million businesses in eight countries hence rich for startups.

“The startups will create innovations that connect customers and businesses on M-PESA to more opportunities while providing them with even more value,” intimated Lopokoiyit.


M-Pesa Africa will offer the startups seeking expansion to other countries expertise, market research and insights, and other capacity support even beyond the three-month program.

The conclusion of the three-month Spark accelerator program will see the selected startups pitch for investment from Safaricom and the partner venture capital firms.

iHUB and Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB) will be the implementing partner of the ambitious programme with other supporting partners including Vodacom and AWS.

The call for applications will run from January 12 to February 16, 2024.