Sophie Ménager's interview in Jeune Afrique: "Creating innovative and competitive SMEs in Sahel"

Sophie Ménager, director of I&P Acceleration in Sahel and coordinator of association I&P Entrepreneurs and Development (IPED), gave an interview to Jeune Afrique to explain the vocation and the first results of the program.

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Learn more about I&P Acceleration in Sahel

I&P Acceleration in Sahel is a program aimed at African start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises in Sahel sub-region with one main objective: to give them access to the financing and skills they need to develop and thus promote the creation of decent and sustainable jobs. This ambitious program is financed by the European Union through the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, a financial instrument to respond quickly, flexibly and effectively to emergency situations related to the migration crisis and forced displacement, and to propose sustainable solutions to the root causes of migration.

To date, the program has already funded 70 companies and supported 10 incubators in ten countries: Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Chad, but also in Ghana, Togo, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Cameroon.

Impacts on the companies financed are already considerable: validation of the economic model, strong annual growth in sales (+60% on average) and in the number of employees (+50%), improvement of working conditions, implementation of an environmental and social policy, raising additional funds, etc. For example, Maison Fénel, based in Burkina Faso and specializing in fashion accessories made from local woven fabrics, increased its sales by 85% in one year.