Call for digital francophone African startups and SMEs

With the COVID-19 pandemic unfolding around the globe and its subsequent global economic crisis, particularly affecting startups and SMEs on the African continent, the GreenTec Capital Africa Foundation together with the French Development Agency believe even more in their mission to support the local ecosystem and urge startups to apply to this call for application.

The GreenTec Capital Africa Foundation (GCAF) is a non-profit organization founded to promote the development of investment into African entrepreneurship and support the creation of local economic and social added-value. Together with GreenTec Capital Partners, they have been successfully supporting and investing in African early-stage start-ups for more than 5 years.

In Africa, promising digital technology-based companies, in particular, are becoming of increasing importance in offering responses to acute unfulfilled or unmet local needs, and generative of precious new jobs under innovative economic models. However, these companies face challenges during their early growth period, having then difficulties to get access to finance and grow sustainably.

As part of this program launched by the AFD, the GCAF will select digital, francophone-based, early-stage startups and SMEs and will offer them two types of support:

• A free interest repayable advances for companies demonstrating a capacity for development.
• A venture building support, in the form of strategic, financial, technical, and operational advice and capacity building

Following selection, founders will have the opportunity to qualify for GreenTec Capital Partners’ unique “Results4Equity” program. The program combines operational and light financial support. In contrast with other investors, GreenTec does not take equity for simply providing funding or a fixed quantity of support deployed for an investee, but only for the results of its total contribution, as measured by the achievement of pre-defined targets agreed upon with the start-up’s founders at the beginning of the collaboration.

WHAT WE OFFER

Interest-Free Loan: GreenTec will be able to unlock a 0% interest loan to up to 50.000€, with a repayment period of up to 18 months (with no fixed repayment schedule)

Venture Building:

• Strategic and Operational Advice: we will give you feedback on your current business model, market opportunities, potential growth strategies, and support with new marketing and sales approaches.
• Financial advisory: We provide support regarding financial modeling & financial projections.
• Tech advisory: we will analyze your current technical capabilities and give you feedback on improvements and security issues.
• Partnerships: we will match you with potential partners and investors in and around our ecosystem

Potential follow-up investment by GreenTec:

• Strategic support
• Business development/networking
• Financial advisory
• Legal support
• Tech support
• Funding support
• Getting a long-term partner with aligned interests

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

• Business profile:
  • Digital solution or component
  • Validated proof of concept
  • Existing and growing base of customers
  • Registered Company
  • Revenue-generating solution
  • Two + founders

• Geography: Francophone African countries
• Sectors focus: agriculture, sustainable resources, digitalization

Note: applications have to be submitted in English.

TIMELINE

• Application deadline: 17th June 2020
• Startups review: 17th June – 1st July
• Calls with selected startups: 1st July – 15th July
• Program starts: August 2020