Built in Africa, Built to Last

The Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) is one of the most ambitious experiments in tech talent development anywhere in the world. Founded in 2008 by the Meltwater Foundation in Accra, Ghana, MEST has trained over 1,000 entrepreneurs from 22+ African countries in how to code, build companies, raise capital, and do the hard things that MBA programs don’t necessarily teach you. Like how to actually talk with customers. Or if its cool to call a product feature “lit” if you’re over 30.

No tuition. No debt. Just hustle. MEST covers everything - training, housing, and training to build investor decks that use Gill Sans Condensed (go to hell, Arial). In return, MEST takes a small equity stake only if the startups go on to raise money. It’s Y Combinator, but with less overpriced Bay Area coffee breaks.

What makes MEST stand out? It’s not just the curriculum. It’s the infrastructure for ambition delivered at scale, across borders, and with real capital behind it.

1. 12 Months, Zero Fluff: One year of full-immersion training in software engineering, business strategy, and communication. Not just the “network in the sauna” kind of training. The kind where you pitch, get grilled, and go back to the drawing board with better questions.

2. Real Capital, Real Deadlines: Top teams don’t leave with certificates. They leave with $50K–$250K in seed funding, a place in MEST’s incubator, and a very real shot at building a company that matters.

3. Connecting the Continent: With hubs in Accra, Lagos, Cape Town, and Nairobi, MEST has is building a distributed innovation network where smart people find each other, build faster, and raise smarter.

⚡Why we said Hell Yeah!

Yes, we here at Hell Yeah HQ are startup nerds. We love ourselves a good pitch deck and whatever meal-alternative has the best branding. But we’ve seen enough accelerators to know that handing someone a hoodie and a deadline doesn’t mean you’re setting them up for long-term success.

MEST’s approach feels... refreshingly aligned. No extractive fine print. No glorified co-working space vibes. Just a full-stack support system: education, capital, community, and connections. It’s not just about exploding a product launch, it’s about building founders with staying power.

In short, it’s super cool that we’re looking to Africa to find an accelerator model that could benefit startup founders anywhere.

Here are some stats on their startups:

• 750+ Jobs Created: From Lagos to Accra to Nairobi, MEST-backed startups are hiring from their local communities and contributing to their economy.

• Pan-African Impact: With over 90 startups launched across critical sectors like agtech, healthtech, and fintech, MEST’s reach spans real problems and real solutions in the region. One example, SAYeTECH, the 2024 MEST Africa Challenge winner. They’re redesigning the future of African agriculture with smart machines that actually work for smallholder farmers. Big market, big need, big energy.

• Global Momentum: But their alumni aren’t just staying local. They’re representing in other organizations, such as Y-Combinator and Techstars, proving African innovation can play (and win) anywhere.

So we got, a good model that supports entrepreneurship that gives back to their communities. That’s dope.

Dive in Deeper

meltwater.org

Jørn Lyseggen's Vision: Insights into the founder's mission to transform Africa's tech scene.

A couple of MEST’s stand-out companies

• mPharma focuses on improving access to affordable and high-quality medicines. It has raised ~$100 million, and served >400,000 patients in several African countries.

• Kudi is a Nigerian fintech company that provides payment and financial services to businesses and individuals, has raised $.

MEST's Impact Report: Comprehensive overview of their achievements and future goals.

Engage with MEST: Field Trip + Fireside Chat 🇬🇭✈️🏫 💬🇺🇸 ⚡

We are always thinking of the right ways to engage with these companies. Here are some ideas below, email us at [email protected] if you’re interested.

Field trip. This is clearly a tough one to pull together, but we want to make it happen. We’d likely add 1-2 other activities or similar visits in Accra, Ghana. We expect this would be a ~2-day visit, meeting in Accra.

Fireside chat with Jørn (Founder) at some point in SF.