GESCI has awarded grants to 7 Start-Ups that were trained and mentored at GESCI’s Digital Media Lab in Nairobi, Kenya. Each start up received KSH. 203, 570. This money is meant to assist the members of the start-ups acquire equipment, set up a small working spaces and get to grow in the entrepreneurship sector. GESCI has been running an innovative program combining culture and digital technology dubbed ‘African Knowledge Exchange (AKE): ‘Creative Media Venture’. AKE , which kicked off in 2012 in Nairobi has been offered to talented Kenyan artists seeking to master the latest digital technologies to develop and market high quality cultural products and services. AKE (African Knowledge Exchange)-‘Creative Media Venture ‘combines the best practices of skills training and those of corporate business Living Labs to develop participants’ creative digital media skills to industry standards combined with an integrated approach to entrepreneurial practice for employment or self-employment in the creative media industry. In 2016, 20 artists coming from the  areas of mobile games and apps, animation and music production & sound industries were enrolled in the program. The participants had access to the full range of digital media equipment, software and tools in GESCI’s digital media production studio, allowing them to improve their creative media skills in three inter-related digital media – animation 2D & 3D, games & Apps design and music& sound - and to jointly develop multi-media projects to industry standards. In a second phase of the program, participants will be guided and mentored by industry and media experts and business practitioners to advice on the media products and services in demand and to assist and advise on the creation of a small number of start-ups. A crosscutting course, ‘Culturally Inspired Music and Sound’, will ensure the cultural originality and authenticity of the prototypes and resulting products. By the end of 2016, the team had formed 7 start ups which were incubated until March 2017.The AKE programme received support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finland.