Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa's innovation economy is booming. There are now more than 500 incubators and accelerators on the continent that are helping startups solve problems around financial inclusion, healthcare, and education. Our Nairobi office is leading accelerators as well as initiatives around talent and entrepreneur support.

Our Work

Future of Work Africa 2021, with support from IFC, focused on supporting and scaling startups across Sub-Saharan Africa that help young people find jobs, build careers, and prepare for the future of work.

O-Farms: Making the Most of Food is the first African SME accelerator completely focused on circular agribusiness. The initiative is supported by the IKEA Foundation to help scale circular agribusiness innovations in East Africa.

We released a playbook, Unlocking Pipeline: A Playbook For Entrepreneur Support in Africa, that shares best practices for accelerators and incubators in Africa.

Accelerators At A Glance

Fintech Africa 2018

Fintech in Africa is evolving quickly, as startups build on mobile payments technology to create solutions around lending and insurance. Our accelerator with PayPal featured ten startups and informed a report, “Beyond Payments”. Read more.

Affordable Nutrition Forum

Demand for health food products is growing in West Africa, yet inefficiencies in supply chain, manufacturing, logistics and distribution make it difficult for healthy food products to reach the right people at the right price. We partnered with The Hershey Company to find and support entrepreneurs that are tackling these problems.

VilCap Communities Africa

We ran a program in partnership with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) Impact Programme to equip entrepreneur ecosystem leaders across sub-Saharan Africa with the tools, resources and connections they need to catalyse impact investment.

Agriculture Africa 2019

This program focused on solutions that improve outcomes for small farmers and address food security issues, and run in partnership with Small Foundation and Ceniarth. Learn more at Disrupt Africa.

Uganda Ecosystem Builders 2020

This program aimed to develop entrepreneurship support organizations (ESOs) in Uganda by using an intermediaries diagnostic, bootcamps, and 1:1: business advisory support. The project aimed to improve the quality of intermediaries and thus the quality of support that SMEs and startups receive. Learn more.

Future of Work Africa 2021

With the support of IFC, we launched Future of Work Africa 2021 – an accelerator supporting and scaling startups across Sub-Saharan Africa that help young people find jobs, build careers, and prepare for the future of work. Learn more.

Alumni

Past and current Partners