Two-Phase Program Targets Both Accelerators And Startups In Africa

Accelerators and other startup programs in Africa play a key role helping entrepreneurs in the region succeed. But they often lack the resources needed to accomplish their jobs effectively.

Participants in an Empowering Sustainable Entrepreneurship Africa workshop

Village Capital

That’s why startup accelerator pioneer Village Capital recently launched a program aimed at strengthening the capacity of accelerators, incubators and other entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs for short), so they can more successfully work with the startups they target, especially climate-focused enterprises.

Called Empowering Sustainable Entrepreneurship Africa, the three-year program is funded by Norad, a Norwegian development agency.

The program targets accelerators and entrepreneurs in five countries in Africa— Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania—that are focused on climate-related issues or, at least, in the area. (There’s also one investment fund). Workshops cover four main themes including blue economy, climate adaptation, food security and renewable energy.

First Phase

Since the focus is on both ESOs and startups, the program takes a dual-track approach. The first part, which is currently underway, aims to help participants from 14 accelerators develop the necessary technical expertise for expanding their work. Experts lead workshops looking in more depth at the four main thematic areas, with case studies of entrepreneurs and a discussion of investors in the area. “As ecosystem hubs, ESOs are strategically situated to catalyze both the necessary increase in capital and education needed to de-risk green businesses and grow the green-tech ecosystem,” says Susan Nakami, regional lead at Village Capital.

There’s also a big emphasis on collaboration. Take Malvika Bhansali, programs associate at Pangea Accelerator, a Nairobi-based accelerator participating in the program. “We’re concentrating on breaking down silos that currently exist in our ecosystem,” she says. She’s also learned about approaches used by accelerators in other regions that can work well in Kenya.

Jonas Tesfu

Julia Owino

In addition, they’ve talked about issues related to the valuation of newer sectors, like blue economy. “Investors don’t have a lot of experience investing in it,” says Jonas Tesfu, Pangea’s founder.

Second Phase

Once part one is over, there will be a summit in Cape Town later this year for five of the 14 participants to discuss strategies for the second phase, which will start next year, based on issues that arose during the first stage. No matter what, it will focus on helping those accelerators ramp up their support of 500 climate-focused enterprises, as well as build a pipeline of promising startups using lessons learned to guide their programs. “ESOs will take the thematic curriculum and embed into their regular programs,” says Nakami.

There also will be a focus on getting startups ready to pitch to investors. To that end, Village Capital plans to make use of its existing tools and systems for investment readiness.

For Village Capital, which started working on the initiative more than a year ago, the ultimate goal is to address the lack of access to financing for both ESOs and startups. “Supporting SEOs is the solution because they are strategically positioned to catalyze both the necessary increase in capital and access to information,” says Nakami. “We will build a longer-term foundation for success.”

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