What is the purpose of the I&P Acceleration in the Sahel program?
The I&P Acceleration in Sahel program is addressed to start-ups and small and medium-sized companies from western Africa with one objective: to give them access to funding and skills to allow them to extend and therefore increase job creation in the continent. This program is funded by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa.
This fund targets the Sahel region, a vulnerable zone where demographic growth is significant, and there are many insecurity problems. One of the priorities of this fund is contributing to regional stability through various kinds of actions, all included in this program.
To what kind of company does this program is addressed?
Our first aim is to create local jobs by helping young companies, which are now accelerating, as the name of the program says. Companies that have already been through their incubation period get a tested service concept that wants to develop their sales… But which needs, for example, a little funding for recruiting somebody. In a company's life, it's a critical step. They are testing their business model, they just started sailing their products, they know it could work, but they need some data to scale up, to create a marketing plan, a production plan, get a structure… We are providing them not only with funding but also with technical support. We put at their disposal experts who will help to adjust their economic model. The third component of this program is about the reinforcement of capacities for structures that support the entrepreneurs. Those structures, especially incubators, are often poorly equipped to help companies in their first fundraising. We use our expertise and 20 years' experience in the area to help those structures find funding for the companies they help.
When did the program start?
The program started at the end of November 2019. It began with a structuring phase of several months: finding a team and developing procedures conformed to the EU's rules. But it is not as if we were starting from zero since I&P has offices and business partners in Africa. Six locally based teams are helping us, and we reinforced those teams hiring people specifically dedicated to this project. They have already begun working. And we began to fund our first projects.
What kind of funding do you propose?
The core business of I&P is capital investment. We started proposing a seed fund back in 2017, with 1,5 million dollars from USAID. Before 2023, the objective is to help 300 companies, including 120 with seed funds. The amount of funding is between 25 and 40 million FCFA (between 45 000 and 70 000 dollars). This investment is a reimbursable interest-free advance. It must be repaid within two years. For some projects, a deferred payment period that started after six months can be proposed.
On what criteria those companies have been selected?
I&P is an investment group with a generalist approach. We fund every type of activity. But our priority is to look for companies that can provide essential services to the population and a view of sustainable development. I should point out that this project's idea comes from the field. Our local teams and partners identify a lot of exciting business projects but not mature enough to receive funding. Our job is also to help them at this early stage.
Have you ever lead similar projects in the area?
We completed before July 2020 under the Partnering to Accelerate Entrepreneurship program (PACE), seed fund in three countries: Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Within three years, we financed around twenty companies. It's worked exceptionally well in Niger and has allowed funding many women entrepreneurs: women have created two-thirds of the funded companies. This pilot program has been the base and helped us to create the I&P Acceleration Sahel program.
In the same vein, we also developed I&P Acceleration Technology, a more focused program. It's just about twenty start-ups all over the continent. It's seed funding, but with a higher amount and still a technical support. It started in 2020, and it will be running for the next four years, such as for the I&P Acceleration Sahel program.
Furthermore, I&P already approved 15 companies' funding, 10 of which are exceptionally helped while there first year to face the Covid-19 crisis.
