Start-ups to receive $ 3, 000 to $ 40, 000
African start-up to receive training in investment readiness
EU supporting entrepreneurship in Africa
Three thousand start-ups from 13 Africa Countries would receive financial and technical support under the “Investissueurs and Partenaires (I&P) Acceleration in Sahel” programme.
The programme is jointly implemented by I&P and Wangara Green Ventures with funding from the European Union (EU) and would provide start-ups with funds ranging from $3, 000 to $40, 000 which would be dispersed in two years.
The main objective of the programmes is to support the African continent’s entrepreneurial agenda by providing funds and technical support to entrepreneurs who would not get the needed support from financial institutions.
At the official opening of the I&P Acceleration in Sahel, the programmes manager, Sophie Menage, indicated that the programme would help eliminate the constraint faced by 40 percent who are not able to meet the scrutiny of traditional lending agencies.
“There is a lack of skills among entrepreneurs and their teams on basic business management issues and a governance deficit Entrepreneurship is very rarely the subject of training approach and the reinforcement of effective and tailor-made skills by business professionals,” she said.
She added that the beneficial entrepreneurs in addition to the funds provided would benefit from a nine-month training programme dubbed ‘Investment Readiness’.
On her part, Portfolio Manager for Wangara Green Venture, Ronald Appiah said for an entrepreneur to qualify the person must be a national or a permanent resident of an Africa country and his or her initiative should be environmental and socially friendly.
For this call, countries eligible include Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal Cameroon, Togo, Gambia, Burkina Faso Benin, Chad, Mauritania and Guinea.