Chapter54

Did you know that 14% of major European scale ups already have initiatives in Africa?

At Chapter54, we believe that this footprint can, and must be, reinforced for the scale-ups themselves, for Europe and for Africa. That’s why we have designed an operation-focused acceleration program to successfully turn your African plans into reality.

Now, let’s be clear, spotting Africa as a strategic axis is not without its questions for scale-ups, founders & management teams. To what extent do I have to tweak my operating model? Can I rely locally on categories of partners I’m used to working with? How can I reassure my investors?

All these questions are fully legitimate. That’s why KfW, the German development bank, on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), selected Partech Shaker to operate Chapter54, an unprecedented program for European scale-ups willing to expand into Africa. This way, KfW confirms its ambition to be a facilitator of dialogue between European and African Tech landscapes.

Chapter54 is a program by doers, with doers, for doers. Each year we will select 10 companies, coming from all over Europe, to support them to expand to Africa through a solid, well-documented and budgeted plan enriched by a pipeline of potential leads and partners.

What do you get?

To help you to build your African operational roadmap, from the market-sizing to the recruitment of the 1st local employee, each selected scale-up will benefit from:

• A curated network of mentors & speakers.
• A dedicated team.
• A community of African partnered ecosystems.
• Perks specially selected to prepare your market entry.
• Equity free & 82% subsidized model.
• Journey focused on 1 output, the launch of operations on the African soil.
• An up to 8 month long program both unique in its content & respectful of your workload.

Who can apply?

Chapter54 has been designed for highly mature and successful scale-ups, which are still motivated by an entrepreneurial spirit. To be eligible, you need:

• To be registered and have operations in a European country
• To have sizeable and recurring revenues
• To have scalable tech & ops, i.e., being live in at least 2 European countries.

Timeline

Chapter54