BongoHive

BongoHive
Name	BongoHive
Type	Technology and innovation hub
Founded	2011
Founder	Andrew Sardanis (consulted), Jason Njovu (initial team), Luke Nanne (initial team)
Headquarters	Lusaka, Zambia
Region served	Southern Africa
Focus	Entrepreneurship, startups, innovation, technology incubation, accelerator programs

BongoHive BongoHive is a technology and innovation hub based in Lusaka that supports startups, entrepreneurs, and technology projects across Zambia and Southern Africa. The hub provides coworking space, incubation, acceleration, training, and advisory services to early-stage ventures and social enterprises, while engaging with multinational corporations, development agencies, and academic institutions. Its activities intersect with local and regional initiatives in digital finance, agritech, healthtech, and civic technology.

History

Founded in the early 2010s during a wave of African innovation centres, BongoHive emerged amid contemporaneous initiatives such as CcHub, MEST Africa, iHub, Nairobi Garage, and HiveColab. The organisation developed programming influenced by models from Y Combinator, 500 Startups, Techstars, Seedstars World, and Startupbootcamp. Early engagement with regional events like Seed Forum, Africa Tech Summit, AfricArena, and Zambezi Innovation Summit helped establish networks with entities including GSMA, PayPal, Mastercard Foundation, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Over time, the hub attracted partnerships with academic partners such as University of Zambia, Copperbelt University, University of Cape Town, and University of Oxford for research and capacity building.

Programs and Services

BongoHive operates incubation and acceleration programs modelled alongside frameworks from Lean Startup proponents and accelerator networks like Endeavor, Villgro, and Injini. Its services include mentorship linking startups to advisors from organisations such as Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, McKinsey & Company, and Ernst & Young, and technical support relying on ecosystems involving Amazon Web Services, Google for Startups, Microsoft for Startups, and Stripe Atlas. Training curricula have incorporated digital skills aligned with initiatives by Mozilla Foundation, Coursera, Udacity, and Mozilla Open Leaders. The hub runs sector-specific cohorts for fintech, agritech, healthtech, and civic technology, collaborating with platforms like Flutterwave, M-Pesa, Zoona, and Paga to pilot payment integrations. Programs also engage donors and implementers such as USAID, DFID, UNICEF, UNDP, and African Development Bank on projects for digital inclusion and youth employment.

Partnerships and Funding

BongoHive’s funding and partnerships draw from a mix of corporate social responsibility units and development finance institutions. Key corporate collaborators have included Standard Chartered, Barclays, MTN Group, Zanaco, and Airtel. Development partners have included British Council, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. Investment support and prize funding have been provided through contests and funds associated with Tony Elumelu Foundation, African Innovation Foundation, Orange Digital Ventures, and GSMA Innovation Fund. Equity and seed investors connected through the hub have included regional venture capital firms such as TLcom Capital, Partech Ventures, CRE Venture Capital, Microtraction, and Future Africa.

Impact and Metrics

The hub measures impact across startup survival, jobs created, capital raised, and pilot deployments with public and private partners. BongoHive cohorts have produced startups that entered regional markets, secured grant funding from institutions like Wellcome Trust and Rockefeller Foundation, and attracted investment rounds from funds such as Alitheia Capital and Kepple Africa Ventures. The organisation reports metrics comparable to other hubs like iHub and CcHub: numbers of startups incubated, accelerators run, mentorship hours logged, and people trained in coding and entrepreneurship. Outcomes include technology deployments in sectors served by Ministry of Health (Zambia), Ministry of Agriculture (Zambia), and collaborations with municipal initiatives in Lusaka tied to smart city pilots supported by partners like UN-Habitat.

Facilities and Locations

Located in Lusaka, the hub’s primary facility offers coworking spaces, meeting rooms, event halls, prototype labs, and demo areas. Its physical infrastructure supports hardware prototyping compatible with maker spaces inspired by Fab Lab networks and equipment standards promoted by MIT Media Lab collaborators, enabling work in IoT, drones, and sensor-based agritech. The venue hosts meetups, hackathons, and speaker series that have featured contributors from organisations including Google Developers Group, Facebook Developers Circles, Mozilla and regional accelerators such as Launch Africa. Satellite programs and outreach have connected the hub to innovation activities in neighbouring countries including Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Namibia.

Notable Alumni and Startups

Graduates and resident startups associated with the hub have focused on fintech, health platforms, agritech, and civic tech. Notable names emerging from the ecosystem have engaged with regional services provided by Zoona, Paystack, Flutterwave, mPharma, and Zipline for scaling distribution or logistics integrations. Alumni ventures have participated in regional competitions such as AppsAfrica, Young Innovators Challenge, Seedstars World, and secured recognitions like Africa CEO Forum awards and inclusion in acceleration programs run by Catalyst Fund and Startupbootcamp AfriTech.

Category:Technology hubs in Zambia