The newsletter of the last quarter of 2021 is online! In this issue are notably included:
• An editorial signed by Mariam Djibo, Director of Advans Côte d'Ivoire (below)
• A review of the first regional workshop dedicated to train incubators in West Africa, organized by the program I&P Acceleration in Sahel
The Lycée Privé Technique Moderne de Koudougou (LTMK) is a technical secondary school created in 2017, located in Koudougou, Burkina Faso, about a hundred kilometers from Ouagadougou.
The school has 207 students and offers initial training (BEP and BAC) in the fields of electronics, civil engineering and electrical engineering. The school will open in 2021-2022, a cycle of classical secondary education from the 6th to the 10th grade.
THE ENTREPRENEUR
Mr. KABORE is a 37 year old Burkinabé, holder of a DUT in commercial management and a Master in Marketing and Business Intelligence from the African Institute of Management (IAM Ouaga). After fifteen years of experience in teaching and recruitment, he opened the Institut Supérieur de l'Eau, du Bâtiment et de l'Energie à Ouagadougou (ISEBE) in 2013, a training center based in Ouagadougou that offers training in civil engineering, geology and energy engineering. In 2017, three years after the opening of ISEBE, Mr. KABORE decided to open LTMK with the main objective of providing students with tools for entrepreneurship or giving them a solid foundation before entering a higher education institution.
PARTNERSHIP WITH I&P
LTMK is supported by I&P through I&P Acceleration in Sahel program dedicated to education and employment (IP2E).
EXPECTED IMPACTS
The funding and support provided to LTMK aims at :
Ecofood is a Cameroonian company that operates in mass catering and started its activities with school catering and life base services. Today, it feeds more than 1500 students a day in the most prestigious primary and secondary schools in Yaoundé.
THE ENTREPRENEUR
Stéphane NKONTCHOU is the founder of Ecofood. He grew up in Cameroon and then continued his studies in France, with two master's degrees in Mechanics from the Pierre et Marie Curie University and Arts et Métiers. After ten years of experience in industrial project management, he decided to come back to Cameroon to take care of a family business of which he became the General Manager. After this experience, he decided to found Ecofood.
THE PURPOSE OF THE FUNDING
Ecofood is supported by I&P through I&P Acceleration in Sahel, funded by the European Union.
The objectives of the funding are :
Fisco is a Cameroonian company that markets household products (detergents, bleach, etc.) and para-pharmaceutical products (hydro-alcoholic gels, alcohol, etc.). The company has an artisanal production unit in Bonabéri, in Douala and has activities that now extend to 3 regions of the country (Littoral, Centre, North).
THE ENTREPRENEUR
Fisco was created by Joel Sikam, a Cameroonian with a degree in finance (Bachelor's degree from the University of North Texas). After starting his career in the United States in equity and wealth management with family offices, he returned and founded his own company. Joël Sikam is also very active in the GICAM which is the employers' association of Cameroon.
PURPOSE OF THE FUNDING
Fisco is supported by I&P through I&P Acceleration in Sahel. The funding granted will upgrade in safety and quality by financing the facilities and the acquisition of the necessary equipment. The program will also allow the company to finance the acquisition of a new vehicle for distribution and to support the company in the execution of its communication strategy.
On July 21st, Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P), in partnership with the Cameroon Chamber of Commerce and the European Union, organized a masterclass dedicated to funding solutions for SMEs in Cameroon ( from microfinance to equity investment). During this event, several financial and legal institutions as well as entrepreneurs shared their experience in order to draw up a complete panorama of traditional and alternative funding solutions available to companies according to their size and maturity.
Last June, I&P went to meet Angéline Yougbaré Traoré, a young entrepreneur who founded Maison Fenel, a company specialized in the production and marketing of fashion accessories made from local woven fabrics (Faso Dan Fani) and the first company run by a woman who benefited from I&P Acceleration in Sahel in Burkina Faso.
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 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.
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
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.
Salma is a company specialized in agro-industry. It produces feed for livestock (sheep, cattle, goats) based on fodder, agro-industrial products and minerals.
THE ENTREPRENEUR
Salma was created by Mrs. Nafissa Hamidou ABDOULAYE. She holds a state diploma in midwifery and a higher technician diploma in public health, a bachelor's degree in epidemiology and biostatistics and a master's degree in project management. She benefits from the expertise and permanent technical support of INRAN researchers in the implementation of her project.
ABOUT SINERGI
SINERGI S.A. is a private investment company created in 2006 and supported by I&P with a group of key individual and institutional shareholders in the Nigerien and international SME support landscape. Headed by Ibrahima Djibo, its objective is to contribute to the economic and social development of Niger through the promotion of entrepreneurship and the development of SMEs. SINERGI S.A. provides the means for entrepreneurs in Niger to achieve their growth projects by providing long-term financing and local support. → Find out more about Sinergi
ABOUT USAID PROGRAM
Investisseurs & Partenaires and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched in 2016 an innovative acceleration program for start-ups in Niger, Burkina Faso and Senegal. The partnership is designed to support high-potential start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises in order to facilitate their access to financing in a region where the ecosystem supporting entrepreneurship is still poorly developed. → Click here to find out more
Sahel Délices is a company specialized in the production and marketing of food products (juices, herbal teas, jams, etc.) made from local raw materials from Niger. Juices made from local plants such as bissap or baobab are the company's flagship products.
THE ENTREPRENEUR
Sahel Délices was founded by Ms. Rockya Bachir. She holds a master's degree in management with an option in quality and change and another master's degree in finance and banking from the Institut Supérieur de Management. She received practical training in food processing for "family consumption" in Senegal and is part of the 15th promotion of the UEMOA Talent du Monde program in Brittany.
ABOUT SINERGI
SINERGI S.A. is a private investment company created in 2006 and supported by I&P with a group of key individual and institutional shareholders in the Nigerien and international SME support landscape. Headed by Ibrahima Djibo, its objective is to contribute to the economic and social development of Niger through the promotion of entrepreneurship and the development of SMEs. SINERGI S.A. provides the means for entrepreneurs in Niger to achieve their growth projects by providing long-term financing and local support. → Find out more about Sinergi
ABOUT PACE PROGRAM
Investisseurs & Partenaires and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched in 2016 an innovative acceleration program for start-ups in Niger, Burkina Faso and Senegal. The partnership is designed to support high-potential start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises in order to facilitate their access to financing in a region where the ecosystem supporting entrepreneurship is still poorly developed. → Click here to find out more
Created in 2017, NIGERcab is a VTC (Vehicle of Transport with Driver) service, the first to have offered a private, secure and comfortable door-to-door individual transportation service in Niamey.
THE ENTREPRENEUR
Mr. Amadou Maiga Seydou created NIGERcab in 2017 with three partners. Holder of a Diploma of Professional Aptitude (DAP) in Customs Transit, he received training in transport logistics. Before the creation of the company, he held for 4 years, a position of driver at Babati Automobile where he drove the consultants of ALCATEL LUCIEN.
ABOUT SINERGI
SINERGI S.A. is a private investment company created in 2006 and supported by I&P with a group of key individual and institutional shareholders in the Nigerien and international SME support landscape. Headed by Ibrahima Djibo, its objective is to contribute to the economic and social development of Niger through the promotion of entrepreneurship and the development of SMEs. SINERGI S.A. provides the means for entrepreneurs in Niger to achieve their growth projects by providing long-term financing and local support. → Find out more about Sinergi
Investisseurs & Partenaires and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched in 2016 an innovative acceleration program for start-ups in Niger, Burkina Faso and Senegal. The partnership is designed to support high-potential start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises in order to facilitate their access to financing in a region where the ecosystem supporting entrepreneurship is still poorly developed. → Click here to find out more
English
Français