OceanHub Africa (OHA), an African-based ecosystem enabler and startup accelerator hosted its opening event on February 26th, supported by Wesgro, the French Embassy, 3DS Dassault Systèmes and the V&A Waterfront.

Stéphanie Canac and Alexis Grosskopf, co-founders of OHA, are on a mission to inspire and support scalable ocean-minded businesses and nurture an environmentally conscious and profitable economy that effectively mitigates the effects of global warming as well as the overexploitation and pollution of the oceans.

The inauguration took place at the hub’s new workspace at The Avenue, an iconic location in Cape Town. Delegates from the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Government, the V&A Waterfront as well as the French Embassy have publicly expressed their support to the initiative.

The opening, attended by European diplomats and stakeholders ranging from local authorities, universities, research centres, investors and ocean industries was the occasion for OHA to sign partnership agreements with the 3DExperience Lab and Sigfox. These collaborations will grant the acceleratees of OHA an access to a series of engineering softwares and skills for the development of their technologies.

Applications are now open until March 16th for the first cohort of OHA’s six-month acceleration program that will enrol up to six of South Africa’s most promising impact-for-profit startups focused on preserving and restoring the health of the ocean. Please visit www.oceanhub.africa/application

OceanHub Africa is calling all qualifying entrepreneurs seeking an equity-free acceleration program to apply. Leveraging its highly qualified network of stakeholders and facilitators, OHA will deliver an acceleration program that seeks out sustainable pathways yielding stable profits (ROIs) and avenues for scalable growth throughout Africa, supporting the Sustainable Development Goal 14 – Life Below Water. Startups accepted into the program will have physical working space, access to tailored mentorship, business and scientific expertise and access to market leads.