19 local organizations to watch: Twende Accelerating Social Innovation

📋 What they do Twende is a social innovation center in Arusha, Tanzania, that empowers people to design and make their own technologies to address community problems. 👀 Why we’re watching When many people think of incubators or accelerators, they picture large business initiatives born out of high-income countries. Yet Twende is a local incubator — backed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Segal Family Foundation, Australian Aid, AfriLabs, among others — that is accelerating local technological innovations across the country. 🏢 Country of operation Tanzania. 🗓️ Founding year 2007. ➕ Leadership John Rexford Nzira, executive director. 📊 Impact snapshot • In 2023, 702 grassroots innovators and students were trained and incubated. This included 29 prototypes, 12 tech startups, 444 jobs created, and 11 businesses formed. • In one success story, Edgar Edmund from Green Venture developed a machine to transform plastic waste into sustainable building materials, addressing both housing shortages and environmental pollution. His company now employs over 100 people. Colman Ndetembea also collaborated with Jaffery Schools’ disability department to co-create a multipurpose wheelchair for students with cerebral palsy. This project led to the formation of Kyaro Assistive Tech, an organization committed to manufacturing affordable assistive technologies for Tanzanian communities. 💡Insider scoop Measuring social impact is difficult, and quantifying the long-term impact of an incubator’s work is arduous and complex. Overcoming this will be critical for Twende to communicate its value proposition to future funders and partners. Moving forward, Twende aims to acquire specialized equipment to support more simultaneous projects. It also aspires to transform the Jamii Tech incubation program into a tech fellowship that would bring innovation to Africa. ➡️ Follow 🌐twende.or.tz Update, Nov. 15, 2024: This article has been updated to clarify Twende’s founding year.