What if your first big
client was already waiting for you?
Apply to Jumpstart and you'll collaborate with corporate partners who actually need what you're building. Get equity-free funding. Land your first paying client. And accelerate from there. Let's make it happen !
We’re launching Jumpstart, a market-driven program where real business challenges meet bold entrepreneurial solutions. Instead of looking for market-validation and chasing investors, you’ll co-build directly with corporates who are ready to collaborate and buy. No more pitching into the void. Just real partnerships with real outcomes.
What’s in it for you ?
Up to 1M Equity-Free Funding
Get the funding to build, test, and prove your solution. Milestone-based, so you're supported as you deliver. No equity taken. You keep full ownership of what you build.
Real Corporate Partnership
You'll get access to their expertise, networks, and real-world infrastructure to build something that actually works. They're not gatekeepers. They're your collaborators.
Your First Paying Client Secured
Transform collaboration into a commercial deal. Your corporate partner commits to becoming your first paying customer once the pilot proves successful. That's not a maybe. That's a commitment.
Support Beyond the First Win
Grow beyond the pilot. Build visibility, refine your business model, and get continued support to scale. We'll help you connect with new clients and make intros to investors based on your live traction.
We partner with Mauritius' leading brands to tackle critical challenges and create real impact. Got a solution that could work? Let's build it together.
Plastic Waste
Rethinking Plastic as a Circular Business Opportunity
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The Challenge
Mauritius generates approximately 116,000 tonnes of plastic waste each year. Over 61% ends up in landfill, while another 36.5% remains unaccounted for, leaking into rivers, forests, and coastal ecosystems.
PET bottles alone account for around 130 million units annually, yet only 40% are collected. The absence of large-scale local recycling facilities, weak collection systems, and reliance on limited export channels make recycling costly, fragmented, and dependent on overseas markets. Traceability across the plastic lifecycle remains minimal, creating environmental, operational, and regulatory risks.
The Opportunity
How might we design scalable, commercially viable solutions across the plastic value chain? Relevant approaches could include:
- Improving the efficiency, volume, and quality of post-consumer plastic recovery through stronger logistics, community engagement, and more reliable collection systems.
- Developing local processing, recycling, or upcycling solutions that reduce harmful exports while improving material and value recovery.
- Strengthening visibility and accountability across the plastic lifecycle through transparent data systems that support Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) compliance and sustainability reporting.
This challenge presents a clear opportunity to reframe post-consumer plastics as a circular, value-generating resource.
We are looking for solutions that can be piloted, scaled, and adopted by real market players.
E-Waste
Rethinking E-Waste as a Circular Business Opportunity
Powered by Emtel Ltd
The Challenge
Mauritius generates over 8,000 tonnes of e-waste each year, yet only 2–5% is recycled. The remainder ends up in landfills or informal disposal sites—often containing hazardous components.
Poor collection systems, high treatment costs, weak traceability, and illegal dumping are creating environmental, public health, and regulatory risks. With e-waste volumes growing by 3–5% annually, limited local treatment capacity and fragmented value chains are also becoming a financial and operational liability for businesses.
The Opportunity
How might we design scalable, commercially viable solutions across the e-waste value chain? Relevant approaches could include:
- Increasing the efficiency and volume of e-waste recovery through technology-enabled logistics, community engagement, informal sector integration, and incentive-based models.
- Developing local processing, recycling, or upcycling solutions that reduce harmful exports while improving material and value recovery.
- Building transparent digital platforms that enable traceability, accountability, compliance with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), and robust sustainability reporting.
This challenge presents a clear opportunity to transform end-of-life electronics into a circular, profitable resource.
We are looking for solutions that can be piloted, scaled, and adopted by real market players.
Is this for you ?
You're a startup, entrepreneur, or independent innovator ready to develop, test, or pilot real solutions with a corporate partner. Serious about solving this? We want to hear from you.
You've got a concept, prototype, or solution ready to co-create with the corporate partner. A solid approach matters more than a polished product.
You're based in Mauritius or the region, and you're ready to develop and deploy your solution with a Mauritian corporate partner. As long as you can show up when it counts.
What we’re looking for
Bold entrepreneurs who want to turn a sustainability challenge into a real business opportunity. Founders who believe in building scalable circular ventures that unlock new business models, recover valuable resources, extend product life, and create meaningful market value.
Here are four areas where we see real opportunity:
Circular Business Models
Innovations that redefine ownership, value, and access. Think product-as-a-service, repair and reuse models, reverse logistics, or sharing systems that extend the life of plastic or electronic products and cut waste at source. Make circularity work and make it profitable.
Resource and Material Innovation
Solutions that improve how materials get recovered, reused, repurposed, or safely treated. New recycling techniques. Upcycling processes. Material recovery systems for plastics, electronics, or components. Turn waste into value.
Digital and Data Solutions for Circularity
Tools that improve visibility, traceability, and decision-making across the waste value chain. Using data, sensors, tracking tech, or digital platforms to optimize how plastic waste or electronic waste gets managed. Make the invisible visible.
Community and System Design
Initiatives that engage people, businesses, or networks to make waste management more elective, accessible, and scalable. Solutions that enable circular behaviors across both plastic and electronic waste ecosystems. Because systems change requires people to change.
Startups, innovators, and entrepreneurs, local or regional, with solutions that address circularity challenges.
That means e-waste (Emtel challenge) or plastic waste (QBL challenge). Whether you're at concept stage, have a prototype, running a pilot, or already operational, you can apply.
Yes. As long as you can be in Mauritius for key stages like the Innovation Sprint and the Pilot (if selected).
No. Apply as you are. But if you're selected for the pilot, you'll need to register in Mauritius before it starts.
Yes. Choose one:
- E-Waste Challenge, or
- Plastic Waste Challenge
You can only apply to one challenge in the program.
No. The call is intentionally broad. If you're shortlisted, you'll refine and tailor your solution to the corporate partner's specific needs during the program. That's part of the process.
Hardware, software, or hybrid solutions in areas like:
- Circular business models (repair, reuse, product-as-a-service)
- Material recovery, recycling, and upcycling
- Traceability, logistics, and digital platforms
- System design and community engagement
- Plastic reduction, reuse models, or closed-loop systems
- E-waste collection, refurbishment, or safe treatment
Got something else that's innovative and circular? We want to hear about it.
- Up to MUR 1,000,000 in milestone-based, equity-free pilot funding
- A co-development pilot with the corporate partner
- Direct access to corporate teams, operational environments, and real-world feedback
- Visibility through corporate and national networks
- A pathway to your first commercial contract if the pilot succeeds
Yes. Zero cost to participate. If you're selected for the pilot, you get funding to develop and test your solution. Funding terms, disbursement schedule, and usage will be agreed together with Trampoline and the Corporate Partner in a Tripartite Pilot Agreement.
- Application screening
- Interviews
- Innovation Sprint
- Pitch to the Trampoline selection committee
- Final pitch to the corporate partner
- Selection for the pilot
Two full days where shortlisted startups dive deeper into the challenge, strengthen their solution, and prepare a refined direction for a potential pilot.
Six months of working with the corporate partner to develop and test your solution in a real operational environment. The goal? Assess feasibility, value, and potential for a longer-term commercial partnership. The scope and activities are agreed together before you begin.
- Innovation Sprint: 2 full days
- Pilot: 6 months of regular engagement to build, test, and refine your solution. The exact workload depends on the pilot scope you agree with the corporate partner.
Yes. We encourage you to scale beyond the program. After the pilot, you're free to explore collaborations and commercial opportunities with other corporates in Mauritius or the region.
The funding supports the activities needed to deliver the pilot. The specific budget and permitted uses will be discussed and agreed with you, Trampoline, and the Corporate Partner before the pilot starts.
You keep full ownership of your IP. Any improvements or co-created elements that become part of your product or technology remain fully yours. Joint IP would only arise if intentionally agreed in writing under a separate agreement.
Non-confidential learnings from the Innovation Sprint or Pilot may be used internally by Trampoline and the corporate partner, as outlined in the Terms & Conditions.
Yes. Application information is reviewed internally. If you progress to later stages, confidential information will only be shared after signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
We don't cap the number. We aim to support as many high-quality solutions as needed to tackle the systemic challenges of e-waste and plastic waste.
Final pilot selections are made by the corporate partners, based on business value, operational feasibility, and alignment with their priorities.
No. Jumpstart isn't outsourcing corporate tasks to startups. It's designed to help you co-develop solutions with a committed corporate partner who contributes guidance, access, and real-world insights. The goal? Validate your solution in practical conditions and explore potential for future commercial collaboration.
No. Jumpstart isn't outsourcing corporate tasks to startups. It's designed to help you co-develop solutions with a committed corporate partner who contributes guidance, access, and real-world insights. The goal? Validate your solution in practical conditions and explore potential for future commercial collaboration.
Jumpstart concludes with a Demo Day where you share your pilot outcomes. After that, you and the corporate partner may explore continued collaboration. Trampoline also supports teams in identifying opportunities to scale beyond the corporate partner.
Foreign applicants can apply for a "Startup Visa" via the Economic Development Board (EDB). Trampoline and the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council (MRIC) can support this process. Approval timelines vary depending on personal circumstances and nationality.