I&P Accélération Technologies

Socium.Job is a Senegalese start-up that connects African companies to job seekers around the world. Based in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, the company operates throughout West Africa, and is set to expand into the DRC, Cameroon, Mali and Burkina Faso. The company already has nearly fifteen employees divided between the two offices, as well as prestigious clients such as Orange, EY, the Compagnie Ivoirienne d'Électricité and Philip Morris International.

The entrepreneur

Socium.Job was created in 2021 by Samba Lo, a young Senegalese entrepreneur trained in applied mathematics at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. Samba Lo began his professional career in the world of consulting and finance at Deloitte, Goldman Sachs, Rothschild, Axa but also within a FinTech specialized on blockchain issues. Following his experiences, he decided to specialize in the Tech sector - first as head of product of the start-up Skeat, specialized in the digitization of the ordering process for establishments (bars, restaurants, etc.), then by founding SociumJob.

Partnership with I&P and Teranga Capital

Socium.Job is supported by I&P Accélération Technologies, a €2.5 million program that aims to finance and support fifteen digital start-ups in Sub-Saharan Africa, supported by AFD through the Digital Africa initiative. In Senegal, Teranga Capital is in charge of implementing this program.

This partnership will enable Socium.Job to :

• accelerate its deployment in French-speaking Africa
• strengthen its market positioning and the skills of its team

Afrikamart is a Senegalese agritech that facilitates the pick-up, shipping, and trading of fresh fruits and vegetables between small producers and urban retailers via a digital platform.

The entrepreneurs

Afrikamart was founded in 2018 by Mignane and Albert Diouf, a young Senegalese couple, to address agricultural loss issues present throughout the production chain, from producer to retailer.

Partnership with I&P and Teranga Capital

Afrikamart is supported by I&P Acceleration Technologies, a €2.5 million program that aims to finance and support 15 digital start-ups in Sub-Saharan Africa, supported by AFD through the Digital Africa initiative. In Senegal, Teranga Capital is in charge of implementing this program.

This partnership will allow this start-up to : 

• increase the development of Afrikamart's business model
• promote job creation
• Expand its network to more than 5,000 operators throughout Senegal by the end of 2022

Yellow is the first independent solution for mobilizing their trade receivables in Cameroon.

This young company responds to the difficulties encountered by SMEs in mobilizing short-term resources due to long payment delays.

Yellow relies on transparency, speed in setting up funds, and flexibility to provide SMEs with a response adapted to their needs. To meet this challenge, Yellow has a team of young, solution-oriented, positive, and committed professionals who develop a cooperative model.

The company hopes to relieve many SMEs, have a stong impact on the economy's financing, and become the reference player in alternative finance for SMEs by mobilizing their trade receivables. 
 

THE ENTREPRENEUR

Yellow was founded by Angela NGO NDOUGA, who has 15 years of experience in specialized financing and business management. After starting her professional career in 2011 in France as an account manager in the International Department of Compagnie Générale d'Affacturage (CGA), a subsidiary of the Société Générale Group, she worked for COFACE West Africa service in Douala. She also actively participated in the deployment of factoring projects in Gabon (BGFI), Senegal, and Côte d'Ivoire (Société Générale).

This young entrepreneur co-founded the company Lusis and Co, where she developed the factoring department for five years. She led the negotiation and implementation process of a 2 million euro credit line by the African Import-Export Bank (AFREXIMBANK), thanks to which she assisted 102 Cameroonian SMEs in the mobilization of 8 million euros of trade receivables. After this experience she decided to launch Yellow, which she now manages full time.

PARTNERSHIP WITH I&P

Yellow is supported by I&P through I&P Acceleration in Sahel, financed by the European Union. The partnership aims to support the company in the platform's development for the digitalization of services, the fitting out of premises, and computer equipment and human resources acquisition.

Since 2024, the company has also been supported through I&P Accélération Technology, funded by Agence Française de Développement. The financing and support aims to help the company strengthen its digital services platform (developments, server acquisitions), its human resources and its transformation.

Useful links:

More info on I&P Acceleration in Sahel

More info on I&P Acceleration Technology

Created in 2018 by a talented young Malagasy entrepreneur, Sayna is a startup specialized in digital training and outsourcing of IT projects, carried out by African developers via a micro-tasking platform.

Sayna intends to address a twofold problem: the lack of training in the digital sector in Africa, and the gap between the supply of digital talent and the growing demand of companies in the context of their digital transformation.

Sayna offers digital skills training and provides solutions that allow the students to enter the job market. To date, Sayna has trained nearly 200 students.

Today, Sayna aims to develop a tech startup model based on two pillars:

⇒ A paying online training platform for learners that allows them to follow, evaluate and validate their learning, but also to have access to company IT projects corresponding to the learning they have validated during their training.

⇒ A "microtasking" platform that allows companies to outsource their IT projects more efficiently, which are divided into distributed micro-tasks and assigned to freelance developers registered on the platform.

THE ENTREPRENEUR

The promoter of the project, Matina Razafimahefa, is a young Malagasy entrepreneur of 23 years old, winner of several awards. At 20 years old, she decided to stop her studies to devote herself fully to the deployment of the project and has surrounded herself with advisors and experienced business angels.

PARTNERSHIP WITH I&P ACCELERATION TECHNOLOGIES AND MIARAKAP

Sayna is financed and supported by I&P Acceleration Technologies, a €2.5 million program aimed at financing and supporting fifteen digital start-ups in Sub-Saharan Africa, supported by the French Development Agency (AFD) through the Digital Africa initiative.

As such, Sayna benefits from a €100,000 repayable advance from the I&P Acceleration Technologies program to :

⇒— Finalize and launch the micro tasking platform

—⇒ Roll out the training programs in partnership with a leading player in Bootcamp training, Holberton (Silicon Valley)

⇒ Train 200 students by the end of 2021

NEXT STEPS AND EXPECTED IMPACTS

Sayna's ambition is to :

—• Enable 8,000 people in Africa to enter the digital industry through its training and have more than 3,500 people working on its micro task platform.

•— Meet the IT needs of 300 SMEs and start-ups in the French-speaking world.

—• Complete a Series A fundraising of approximately €3 million in 2022 to accelerate growth and finance a pan-African expansion in West Africa.