Social & Inclusive Business Camp calls for African entrepreneurs

Established by Campus AFD (French Development Agency), The Social & Inclusive Business Camp (SIBC) has officially opened applications for this year’s programme. Innovative African entrepreneurs are encouraged to apply to the programme as it aims to drive growth in the continent’s ecosystem.

Campus AFD is committed to assisting African social entrepreneurs with its unique programme. This can be displayed in 200 African business owners who have scaled up their business with the pivotal assistance and insight provided by Campus AFD’s Social & Inclusive Business Camp.

Applications are open until 3 July 2021

Interested applicants are encouraged to apply before 3 July 2021. Selected applicants will be notified and take part in the programme which is expected to begin in early August. The bootcamp and the Emerging Valley Summit will commence in early December 2021.

The SIBC Programme

While the programme focuses strongly on training, the added benefit for every participant is the three-pronged mentoring and networking environment it offers.

Selected participants will take part in inventive training sessions, form long-term relationships with their mentors and stakeholders within the ecosystem and network with other companies and financial backers. 

The SIBC seeks to connect existing pan-African alumni and mentors, not just to future entrepreneurs but to each other, thereby creating strategic partnerships, opportunities and connections. Peer-to-peer learning is the second branch of this approach and the third is creating funding opportunities during the Emerging Valley Summit.

SIBC starts with three months of online learning that focuses on four key themes: leadership and team building, scaling up, readiness and impact measurement.

In addition, participants will go through a one week in-person bootcamp in Marseilles, France, where they will meet and interact with mentors from previous camps who have scaled up or raised funds for their businesses. The Emerging Valley Summit takes place during this week, where trainees delve more deeply into the themes and meet potential investors and partners to pitch their projects. 

Application criteria and process

Prerequisites required to participate:

• The candidate representing the company, called “the applicant” or “the candidate”, must be the founder, co-founder, manager or at least in a position to make strategic decisions for the company; 
• The applicant must ensure that he/she has sufficiently stable internet access to be able to follow the training and exchange sessions in good conditions; 
• The candidate will have to be able to allocate time to the programme from September to the beginning of December 2021, at a rate of approximately 2 hours per week over this period 

The company must:

• Be a legally registered business;
• Justify a positive impact in Africa – have a social or environmental impact or serving/working with vulnerable populations (women, children, people with disabilities, etc) and/or creating employment for these populations;
• Justify first customers, a turnover and a balanced economic model or a medium-term profitability objective;
• Have a desire for growth and present a scaling-up strategy, taking into account the maximisation of social or environmental impact.

Download and complete the file from the official application site. You must provide:

• An application form to be completed (questions on the project leader, the company, its structure, its impact and its strategy for scaling up)
• Proof of the legal registration of the company (registration document, articles of association, etc.)
• Financial statements for the last 3 years
• A detailed CV of the project leader
• A pitch-deck or a presentation of your company (optional)

Last year, 40 mentors met future business owners during the Emerging Valley Summit. With a large number of experts in various fields joining from across the African continent, this year’s SIBC promises to be an unmissable opportunity.

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Featured image: Lagos Techie via Unsplash