With less than two weeks left to apply for the second GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator Innovation Fund, here are five reasons start-ups in Africa should apply.

1. GRANT FUNDING
As previously reported the the second GSMA Fund, provides selected start-ups fund offers between £100,000 and £250,000 of equity-free grant funding per selected start-up. The first round of the fund provided funding for seven African start-ups.

2. WORKING WITH MOBILE OPERATORS:
During the period of the grant, the GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator team will be supporting the selected start-ups in building partnerships to work with local mobile operators.

3. ACCESS TO EXPERTS:
The selected start-ups will gain access to GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator network of experts across GSMA departments.

4. VISIBILITY
Throughout the year of support, the start-ups will also benefit from enhanced visibility through the programme’s insight publications and will benefit from GSMA branding.

5. NETWORK
Through a series of touchpoints and events, the fund start-ups will have numerous networking opportunities with other portfolio start-ups as well as with investors and other ecosystem stakeholders.

For the second round, the Fund will be supporting start-ups operating in the Sharing Economy, and/or developing services for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Find out more and apply here.