Is there a gender gap in financing Africa’s early-stage ventures? And are there differences between female and male founders—such as the sectors they choose, or the ambitions they have—that could explain divergent funding paths? As start-up financing in Africa keeps climbing to new records, these questions are becoming more urgent. To find answers, we leveraged Briter Bridges’ leading industry platform to comb through years of deal flow data and surveyed a random sample of 172 entrepreneurs operating across the continent.
As ANDE continues to champion for an improved SGB ecosystem in Africa, it seeks to build consensus on the most pertinent advocacy issues and priorities, identify the best practices and strategies, and inspire collaboration to create a more resilient environment for SGBs, especially in the wake of COVID-19.
The climate and biodiversity crisis presents enormous challenges and at the same time, COVID19 has made evident the profound social flaws and inequalities of our economic system. Impact driven venturing is a critical instrument to tackle these challenges, achieve impact at scale and do it fast.
"Over the last decade, the maturation of the business landscape has opened new opportunities in Africa, especially the entry of accelerator and incubator programs (AIPs). These AIPs are consistently adapting their models to respond to the ever-changing needs of the ventures they support, and there is a need for existing literature to keep abreast with this dynamism in order to strengthen programming and the ecosystems in which AIPs operate. This knowledge brief explores characteristics of AIPs in East Africa, focusing specifically on Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. It highlights existing practices and perceptions among AIPs to better establish a common understanding of the current AIP landscape, best practices, and key challenges."
"The question of if and how business support programmes – particularly accelerators and incubators – can play a role in entrepreneurial growth in South Africa is at top of mind for donors and government alike. And while there is some evidence that these programmes do have an impact on early-stage businesses, there is less clarity on how they can best serve the needs of often-overlooked women entrepreneurs. This brief provides a regional review of the intersection of gender and acceleration in South Africa, drawing on GALI’s global findings while highlighting primary analysis of entrepreneur data collected by Catalyst for Growth (C4G), a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) platform for programme monitoring, analytics, and reporting in South Africa."
"The Adaptation SME Accelerator Program (ASAP) aims to enhance the availability and uptake of climate adaptation solutions by identifying, engaging and empowering SMEs providing such solutions in developing countries."
The Aavishkaar Group is a global pioneer in taking an entrepreneurship-based approach towards development. The Group is focused on developing the impact ecosystem in the continents of Asia and Africa. Aavishkaar Group manages assets in excess of USD 1 Billion across Equity and Credit, with 6,000+ employees present across India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Kenya.