German investment firm GreenTec Capital Partners has signed an agreement with the Senegalese government which will see entrepreneurs in the country benefit from investments of between €10 000 to €500 000.
GreenTech Capital Partners announced in a statement yesterday (24 July) that the agreement was signed with Senegal’s General Delegation for the Acceleration of Entrepreneurship for Women and Young People (DER), a unit in the presidency.
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The agreement was signed by the Senegalese Minister for Entrepreneurship Papa Amadou Sarr (pictured above, second from left) and GreenTec Capital Partners CEO and co-founder Erick Yong.
The agreement also includes the establishment of GreenTec Capital’s regional office in Dakar
GreenTec Capital Partners said the agreement aims to help lay the foundation of what it said is Africa’s first regional venture building centre through which the investments will be made.
In addition, the agreement will benefit Senegalese entrepreneurs by:
- Providing financing for the digital sector
- Strengthening the operational capacities of startups
- Setting up a common infrastructure to enable startups to develop sustainably
GreenTec Capital said Karim Sy, the head of French initiative Digital Africa, has guaranteed to lend the full support of the programme to the partnership.
The investor said the joint initiative will further enable high potential entrepreneurs to gain better access to the support they need to grow.
“Accessing support in the form of personalised operational assistance will create value for entrepreneurs who have matured past the phase in which incubators and accelerators have added value.
“This will help to further improve the quality of startups and improve their chances of success,” added GreenTec Capital Partners.
The agreement also includes the establishment of the investor’s new regional office in Dakar.
The office will support and develop the operations of Greentec Capital, with a local team which will help raise the critical operational capabilities of companies to help make them “more attractive” for international investors.
DER, GreenTec joint initiative to support 20 startups
The new DER unit in the presidency has been operating since March last year.
The unit has has been provided with a budget of $5-million per year until 2023 to support and finance Senegalese entrepreneurs in the priority sectors outlined in the country’s National Development Plan. These include agriculture, the digital economy, tourism, crafts and services.
Through its innovation fund, the DER last year invested in 44 Senegalese startups, with ticket sizes ranging from €10 000 to €100 000.
This year, the DER aims to support more than 150 digital startups and small businesses by investing more than $10-million. Its joint initiative with GreenTec Capital will see it support an additional 20 startups.
GreenTec Capital pointed out that the signing of the partnership agreement coincides with the ground breaking ceremony of the DER Innovation Hub.
The hub aims to position Senegal as a major player in the field of innovation at a regional level. It will do this by hosting major tech companies, innovators, incubators, accelerators as well as the GreenTec Capital Partners team.
Editor’s note (25 July 2019): Spokesperson Kadjo N’Doua subsequently told Ventureburn via email that the joint initiative will make investments through loans, equity and grants depending on a startup’s history and stakes. “The key thing is all those investments will be combined with venture building,” he added.
Featured image: Representative of the Senegalese government and GreenTec Capital at the signing of the partnership agreement (Supplied)
