GEI Launchpad Concludes Program and Announces Winners

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GEI
The GEI’s Launchpad program has graduated its first cohort of entrepreneurial teams, choosing two winners: KPI Lens from Ghana and Le Barometre from Benin.
news
05 August 2022

Earlier this year, the GEI developed and ran the GEI Launchpad, a 12-week structured pre-incubation program for early-stage enterprises in developing countries. The program targeted entrepreneurs who offered tech-based, innovative monitoring and evaluation (M&E) solutions. The GEI Launchpad provided participant teams with business support, mentoring, expert data science guidance, cutting-edge evaluation knowledge, and connections to a global evaluation network. Program instructors were recruited from the M&E field, Silicon Valley, and world-class business accelerators with the end goal of helping participating business teams be better positioned to access financing for their enterprises (e.g., seed funding from private investors, donor grants). By supporting developing country enterprises focusing on M&E, the GEI Launchpad program contributes to GEI’s mission of strengthening M&E ecosystems in developing countries.

The first cohort of the GEI Launchpad included 10 enterprises from Argentina, Benin Republic, Bolivia, Brazil, Ghana, India, Mexico, and South Africa.

Participating companies included:

  • Women in Research, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (Women in RMEL)
  • Phoenix
  • CROP
  • KPILens
  • Le Barometre
  • Reader
  • EvalSur
  • GáveaLab Action Tank
  • Mathemaniacs
  • M&E Academy

 

Embracing a “learning by doing” philosophy, the GEI Launchpad program was structured in three blocks mirroring key innovation phases: Build - Validate - Launch. Training sessions included lectures, presentations, and hands-on exercises with mentors. Teams applied new concepts and methods they learned in the GEI Launchpad to their product/service and engaged in a continuous iteration process of improvement, culminating in a final presentation at the end of the program. Although all the teams did an exceptional job, two teams emerged as the winners of this competition. The winners were KPILens from Ghana and Le Barometre from Benin.  The GEI will sponsor the participation of the winners at the 2022 UNDP’s National Evaluation Capacities conference in October in Turin, Italy where they will present their products and services to a large audience of developing country stakeholders operating in the M&E field. They will also visit with business accelerators in Northern Italy, connecting with additional entrepreneurs and potential investors.