Telecoms veteran Charmaine Eggberry (pictured) has been appointed as the new Academy Director of Spanish phone company Telefonica’s accelerator programme, Wayra UK. Eggberry has previously held senior marketing roles with Lucent Technologies, RIM and most recently Nokia. “Wayra is an incredibly special and unique accelerator with a clear focus on supporting world class talent as well as world class ideas,” she said. She replaces Ashley Stockwell who has been Guest Director of the UK Academy since 2012.
The announcement came during WayraWeek 2013 last week, at which 17 startups were selected from 3,444 applicants across 32 countries to participate in the next UK programme, starting in April. Each company will receive €40,000 of investment which may eventually be converted into a minority equity shareholding in their business, typically between five and ten percent. Additionally they can use free customised work space at the Academy in central London and receive mentoring during the six-month programme.
Of the 19 companies graduating from the previous programme, TaskHub, an online community hub and social marketplace, has received a six figure investment from Telefonica, while nine others have received investments from third parties.
Selected entrepreneurs at WayraWeek 2013