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OPEN STARTUP INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
BROOKLYN, NY · EIN 852642709 · Form 990 · FY2025 · NTEE Q32 · International Affairs · Medium ($1M-$10M) · open-startup.org
revenue
$1.8M
expenses
$1.6M
net assets
$337K
employees
0
program ratio
73%
mission · from form 990

THE COMPANY OFFERS PROGRAMS THAT SUPPORT STARTUP DEVELOPMENT, FROM IDEATION AND INCUBATION TO INVESTMENT READINESS AND CAPACITY BUILDING, PREPARING ENTREPRENEURS FOR SUCCESS. THESE PROGRAMS ARE DESIGNED TO EMPOWER ENTREPRENEURS BY PROVIDING TAILORED GUIDANCE, RESOURCES, AND ACCESS TO A GLOBAL NETWORK.

profile · synthesized from sources

The website content describes a thought leadership paper on Uganda's AI education pipeline, highlighting systemic gaps in skills development, curriculum-industry misalignment, and commercialization challenges. It profiles existing Ugandan assets such as Makerere University's AI Lab, Sunbird AI, and Zindi Uganda, and discusses interventions across K–12 education, higher education reform, accelerated skilling, and community-driven learning networks. The document does not represent the activities or mission of Open Startup International Corporation.

irs program accomplishments · form 990 part iii · fy2025

What they reported doing

  1. #1 primary $251K
    OPEN START-UP PROGRAM OPERATED A SEED-STAGE PRE-INCUBATION PROGRAM SUPPORTING EARLY STAGE ENTREPRENEURS ACROSS AFRICA THROUGH STARTUP VALIDATION, ENTREPRENEURIAL TRAINING, MENTORSHIP, AND ECOSYSTEM ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES. OPEN START-UP ASSISTED FOUNDERS IN REFINING BUSINESS IDEAS, DEVELOPING INITIAL BUSINESS MODELS, STRENGTHENING ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILL, AND PREPARING VENTURES FOR ACCELERATION AND INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES.
  2. #2 $239K
    GROW PROGRAM IMPLEMENTED AN INVESTMENT READINESS PROGRAM DESIGNED TO PREPARE STARTUPS FOR FUNDRAISING AND INVESTOR ENGAGEMENT. SUPPORTED ENTREPRENEURS THROUGH FINANCIAL MODELING, PITCH PREPARATION, GOVERNANCE STRENGTHENING, BUSINESS STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT, AND MENTORSHIP ACTIVITIES AIMED AT IMPROVING STARTUPS' READINESS TO ACCESS GRANTS, INVESTMENT CAPITAL, AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS.
named programs · 1 · from sources

What they call their work

From Classroom to Career: Building Uganda's AI Education Pipeline
A policy paper analyzing structural gaps in Uganda's AI education-to-employment pipeline, proposing interventions across K–12, higher education, workforce development, and community learning
activities · 7 groups

What they do

  • Startup Acceleration & Business Growth Support 4 activities
    • Entrepreneurship training and mentorship programs
      Provides entrepreneurship training led by national and international experts, one-on-one mentorship, and certified training for coaches and ecosystem stakeholders. Includes bootcamps, online programs, and collaboration with Columbia Engineering and Columbia Business School.
    • Investment readiness and financial matchmaking
      Implements an investment readiness program that supports startups in financial modeling, pitch preparation, governance, and business strategy, and facilitates connections between startups and investors, venture capitalists, and accelerators. Includes participation in the Columbia Venture Competition and immersion in New York’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
    • Pan-African pre-seed accelerator program
      Co-designed and operates a pan-African pre-seed accelerator program for early-stage startups and individual talents, delivering hybrid programming that advances startups from proof of concept to minimum viable product development and launch. The program includes mentorship, training, and ecosystem engagement.
    • Startup incubation and capacity building across Africa
      Operates as a pan-African innovation platform active in 19 countries, providing incubation, capacity building, and support for startups from ideation through investment readiness, with a focus on soft tech and deep tech ventures in health, climate, and AI sectors.
  • K–12 Computer Science & AI Education 1 activity
    • AI talent and community development
      Supports a network of 2,500 registered data scientists and AI developers, deploys AI tools to 35,000 primary school students in northern Uganda in 31 local languages, and conducts hackathons and workshops across regional universities to grow local AI capacity.
  • Leadership & Policy Dialogue Forums 1 activity
    • Advocacy and policy engagement in AI and DeepTech
      Organizes and moderates panels on AI infrastructure, data, education, talent, and policy at events like the DeepTech Summit in Kampala, and facilitates forward-looking commitments from stakeholders to advance responsible AI development in Africa.
  • Women Entrepreneurs Grant Programs 1 activity
    • Grantmaking and pre-seed funding programs
      Funds early-stage startups through SAFE investment tickets of $20,000, provides access to pre-seed funding without equity exchange, and awards 1,500–2,000 TND to green startups via the OST Greenification Program. Operates investment arm Openers First to finance selected ventures.
  • Youth and Student Entrepreneurship Competitions 1 activity
    • Regional startup competitions and gatherings
      Organizes in-person regional gatherings and startup competitions in Tunisia and Morocco, including fully funded immersion weeks and collaboration opportunities with Columbia MBA students, to support networking, knowledge exchange, and national/international exposure for African startups.
  • Impact Investing Knowledge & Technology Platforms 1 activity
    • Research publications and ecosystem mapping
      Conducts and publishes research including a Pan-African roundtable white paper, an African Deeptech Ecosystem Mapping Study Report, and an interactive dashboard to support evidence-based development of the African deeptech ecosystem.
  • Uncategorized 1 activity
    • AI research and development initiatives
      Operates an AI research hub since 2008 focused on machine learning diagnostics for agriculture, health, and livestock; develops AI-for-education tools like LearnBridge; launched Uganda’s first MSc in AI; and built the SALT dataset covering six Ugandan languages to support sovereign AI development.
financials · form 990 · fy2025
revenue
Total revenue$1.77M
Contributions & grants$1.62M92%
Program service revenue$149K8%
Investment income$2000%
Other revenue$0
expenses
Total expenses$1.58M
Program expenses73%
Admin / overhead17%
Fundraising10%
Salaries & benefits$30K
Grants paid out$428K
Largest expense lineProfessional Fees
balance sheet
Total assets$957K
Cash$895K
Investments$0
Liabilities$620K
Net assets$337K
Liquid reserves6.8 mo
3 years on record · 2023–2025 · YoY revenue -1.8%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2025

Who runs it

paid leadership · 1
NameTitleHours/wkCompensation
SONIA SOUAYAH CFO 3 $30K
board members · 3
  • CHEYENNE V ELLIS — Trustee
  • ISADORA BIGOURDAN — Trustee
  • ZIAD OUESLATI — Trustee
relationships · 42

Who they work with

  • AfricInvest Partner — Partner in supporting African innovation ecosystems.
  • African Development Bank Government — Open Startup aligns its BRAIN programme with African Development Bank-backed funding requirements and capital deployment frameworks.
  • African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) Partner — Implements work-integrated learning models that bridge higher education and industry needs in AI and data science.
  • Bpifrance Partner — Partner supporting Open Startup’s innovation ecosystem work.
  • Busitema University Partner — Partner in advancing AI education through the launch of Uganda's first dedicated MSc in AI.
  • CERI Partner — Collaborates with CERI to support research-led founders moving science from lab to market.
  • Columbia Business School Partner — Academic partner supporting Open Startup’s programs.
  • Columbia Business School Partner — Co-conceived Open Startup with Columbia Engineering and contributed to its foundational development.
  • Columbia Business School Partner — Co-designed the OST accelerator program and participates in the regional gathering with experts and MBA students.
  • Columbia Engineering Partner — Co-designed the OST accelerator program with Open Startup International Corporation.
  • Columbia Engineering Partner — Collaborated in the conception of Open Startup at Columbia Engineering and Columbia Business School.
  • Columbia Engineering School of New York Partner — Co-delivers the TOT for Coaches training program with OPEN STARTUP INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
  • Columbia University Partner — Collaborates with Columbia MBA students and offers access to the Columbia Venture Competition.
  • Columbia University Partner — University partner collaborating with Open Startup.
  • DeepTech Summit Partner — OPEN STARTUP INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION participated in and moderated panels at the DeepTech Summit in Kampala.
  • Digital Africa Partner — Collaborates with Digital Africa to produce and power resources for the African deeptech community, including ecosystem reports and dashboards.
  • Digital Africa Partner — Partner in supporting African startups and innovation.
  • Drosos Foundation Funder — Funder supporting Open Startup’s programs.
  • East African Community Network — Open Startup supports Ugandan AI ventures within the EAC, which is developing a Regional AI Fund to scale homegrown innovations.
  • Ecole Polytechnique Partner — Connects African DeepTech startups with talent and expertise from Ecole Polytechnique through global talent network initiatives.
  • European Union Government — Government partner supporting Open Startup’s initiatives.
  • Hey Kahani Partner — Open Startup International collaborates with Hey Kahani, whose CEO serves on Open Startup's board.
  • Inception Partners Partner — Collaborates with Inception Partners on the OST Greenification Program.
  • Initiative Partners Partner — Collaborates with Initiative Partners on the OST Greenification Program.
  • Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU) Partner — Collaborates on AI integration in pedagogy and operates the Motion Analysis Research Laboratory for societal problem-solving.
  • KfW AfricaGrow Partner — Partner that supported Open Startup’s continental expansion.
  • LaunchLab Partner — Collaborates with LaunchLab to support research-led founders in bringing science to market.
  • LinkedIn Network — Shares program updates via LinkedIn posts
  • MIT Partner — Collaborates with MIT's Legatum Center on a Pan-African roundtable white paper and engages MIT executive MBA students in the BRAIN Accelerator bootcamp.
  • MIT Africa Partner — MIT initiative partnering with Open Startup to support African innovation.
+ 12 more
strategies · 4

How they approach the work

Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.

  • Academic-Industry Co-Design for Deep Tech Commercialization
    methodology: academic-partnership_accelerator
    By co-designing accelerator programs with academic institutions, we produce scalable deep tech ventures because integrating technical expertise with business training bridges the gap between scientific innovation and market readiness.
  • Data Sovereignty and Local AI Infrastructure Development
    methodology: data_sovereignty_and_local_infrastructure
    By promoting locally accessible AI infrastructure and advocating for data sovereignty, we enable African-led AI development because democratized compute and legal frameworks that retain data value empower local innovation and reduce dependency on foreign capital or platforms.
  • Ecosystem-Driven Entrepreneurial Scaling
    methodology: ecosystem-driven expansion
    By starting with grassroots competitions and expanding into a pan-African innovation platform, we produce sustainable startup growth and investment readiness because early-stage engagement builds founder capacity and connects fragmented regional ecosystems into a cohesive support network.
  • Hybrid Mentorship with Immersive Acceleration
    methodology: hybrid-mentorship-with-immersion
    By combining online learning with a fully funded in-person immersion experience, we produce rapid startup validation and growth because the hybrid model enables continuous mentorship, iterative feedback, and real-world testing in a resource-constrained context.