Digital Africa is transforming to better support the scaling up of young African startups with high potential for impact on the real economy. With a redesigned structure and organization that is better aligned with the functioning of innovation players and African ecosystems, Digital Africa will be more agile in deploying its actions.
New funding and skills-building programs have just been announced, including a joint project with Make IT and the German government.
President Emmanuel Macron Renews Financial Commitment
It was on the occasion of the New Africa-France Summit that President Emmanuel Macron announced a renewed financial commitment from the French State to the tune of 130 million euros for the next three years and defined the new ambitions of Digital Africa. to support entrepreneurship and technological innovation on the continent.
Present in Montpellier, the Digital Africa team has unveiled new programs. On access to financing, it is the Fuzé project, intended primarily for French-speaking Africa, which aims to support at least 200 tech start-ups by offering small tickets from 10,000 to 200,000 euros from the start of 2022, in stages, in the form of repayable advances.
On skills building, Digital Africa has partnered with Make IT and the German government to set up Talent4StartUps, a training grant program to meet the needs of trained talent in digital industry jobs, including beneficiaries who will be in contact with start-ups in the recruitment phase.
Stéphan-Éloïse Gras, Executive Director of Digital Africa, Speaks
Stéphan-Éloïse Gras, Executive Director of Digital Africa, declares: “This new organization for Digital Africa, redefined with our partners, allows us to intensify our commitment to tech innovations ‘made in Africa,’ to become a factory for future unicorns. African. Start-ups need a ‘One-stop-shop’ combining training, research, project structuring, support for pro-tech and pro-innovation reforms, and financing. Thanks to the merger with Proparco, they will find in Digital Africa an interlocutor capable of offering support from ideation and initiation to growth and hyper-growth.
