Village Capital (VilCap) and Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), have partnered to launch Empowering Sustainable Entrepreneurship Africa, a transformative ecosystem-building program in Africa that aims to strengthen the capacity and impact of Business Support Organizations (BESOs) and early-stage climate-focused startups Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania.
Details
The initiative will take a two-pronged approach. First, it will equip community-led ESOs with the technical expertise and resources necessary to promote sustainable development in their organizations.
This approach will enhance their ability to effectively support the unique needs of sustainability initiatives in the region and thereby enhance their impact.
Second, the program will directly support climate-focused ventures in priority countries and nurture a long-term pipeline of high-growth, investable start-ups that advance solutions in critical areas such as the blue economy, climate adaptation, food security and renewable energy .
Environmental and climate concerns are at the core of Norad’s work, in line with the organization’s aim to promote global and Norwegian environmental goals for climate, biodiversity and other environmental issues. These concerns serve as a guiding principle when developing new partnerships and initiatives, such as the Empowering Sustainable Entrepreneurship Africa initiative.
Because this matters
Business ecosystems remain underfunded, fragmented and lack technical resources
to effectively support the unique needs of the region’s entrepreneurs.
Although funding for climate-focused entrepreneurs has increased recently, there are still huge shortages of capital and training. Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania.
These gaps need to be significantly improved to achieve significant developments in the blue economy, climate adaptation, food security and renewable energy. This program aims to address these needs by catalyzing the development of the large-scale ecosystem that will fuel long-term innovation and sustainable economic growth.
What they say
βWe are excited to partner with Village Capital to Empower Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Africa. Entrepreneurs and start-ups with innovative ideas and services have an important role to play in contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Today such bodies often lack access to funding and technical support due to a number of obstacles. We hope that by strengthening the business ecosystem through Entrepreneur Support Organizations, some of these barriers will be overcome. This partnership is also exciting for us as it is multi-sectoral, working on the blue economy, renewable energy, food security and climate adaptation, to make the best overall contribution to innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa.β β Fredrik Ilsaas PharoDirector of Climate and Environment, Norad.
“ESOs play a critical role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, serving as the first line of support for entrepreneurs, acting both as trainers and key networkers such as investors and talent, especially in emerging ecosystems,β shares Rachel Crawfordwho heads Special Projects at Village Capital.
βHowever, these same ESOs typically operate as startups they support and often lack the final piece of the puzzle – capital to grow directly into startups. Village Capital aims to address each of these three needs through our unique initiative design, leveraging ecosystem development, business support and catalyst capital. Importantly, not only does the Village Capital initiative align well with Norad’s set priorities, but it also stands out compared to other regional projects.
It builds on Village Capital’s extensive impact in the sub-Saharan African business ecosystem over the past 11 years, having supported more than 200 entrepreneurs who have gone on to raise over $230 million in capital to scale their businesses and partnered with over 70 local ESOs over from 3,000 entrepreneurs”.
Information
To learn more about the program and explore opportunities to engage as an ESO, Village Capital will host an information session specifically tailored for ESOs in the target countries.
The session will provide detailed information about the program and its eligibility criteria.
For more information about the program and to express your interest in participating in the information session, please contact Ahmed Fadl, Program Manager at Village Capital (ahmed.fadl@vilcap.com).
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