Ghana’s Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) has announced that US technology veteran Neal Hansch is its new managing director.

Established in 2008, not for profit programme MEST has trained more than 125 technology entrepreneurs and its associated incubator programme has invested in 15 startups in Ghana.

MEST companies have raised external capital from Silicon Valley in the US and European institutional investors, competed in technology events such as TechCrunch Disrupt, DEMO, and the Launch Festival, and have gained admittance to top accelerator programs including HealthXL and 500 Startups.

MEST is funded by Meltwater, a provider of online intelligence solutions with over 50 offices and 20,000 clients around the world.

And according to a press statement from MEST, it has hired Hansch who has over fifteen years experience in venture capital, technology operations and investment banking.

Most recently, he was a general partner with Rustic Canyon Partners (RCP), an early-stage focused investment fund.

Prior to RCP, Hansch was also a corporate development executive at Macromedia (which was acquired by Adobe), a venture capitalist with Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), and an investment banker at, Robertson Stephens & Co.

In the statement, MEST says that Hanch’s track record in developing US based startups could “play an important role in MEST’s future success, while deepening the program’s presence in Silicon Valley.”

“Since its launch, MEST’s training and investment program has been at the forefront of the emerging high tech ecosystem in Ghana, which has one of the fastest growing economies in the world,” says Hansch in a statement.

“I’m excited to join MEST as its own growth continues to accelerate and its reach extends across Africa and onto the global stage,” he adds.