Boost entrepreneurship and innovation across the continent
Create new and quality jobs
Develop an efficient entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa
Address financing gaps at the earliest and riskiest stages of business creation
Develop young entrepreneurs’ skills and expertise
Investment programme
The Investment programme will span the whole venture segment, including seed funds, incubators, accelerators, follow-on funds, business angels funds, equity-crowd platforms, and venture capital funds to support the creation of innovative and highly scalable start-ups and small and medium companies.
It will focus on all of those ecosystem builders that are able to generate first-rate opportunities in terms of quality, creativity, impact and innovation.
The programme is structured as a co-investment partnership between EIB and the African Development Bank (AfDB), who will each commit up to €70 million and €50 million respectively in senior tranche investments. The programme is further enhanced by €50 million in junior tranche investments, provided by the European Commission and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States Secretariat under the 11th European Development Fund. The EIB and AfDB are in charge of the deployment of the €50 million junior tranche investments.
Third party investors from the public and the private sectors will be invited to co-invest, with the ultimate aim to mobilise a combined amount of €300 million.
Deploying a blended finance approach, the programme expects to build a portfolio of 8 to 10 funds over a 2-4 year period.
Through this integrated approach, Boost Africa will both provide financial capital and develop skills and expertise, helping fund managers and entrepreneurs to effectively deal with the many obstacles that arise when building new funds and companies.
Development impact
The overall target size across the various components of the initiative is expected to be around €190 million , leveraging €300 million in investments, supporting over 200 small and medium companies and creating 3 300 direct jobs and at least 9 900 indirect jobs.Technical Assistance Pool
The Technical Assistance Pool (sustained by the EU and OACPS with € 4 million), managed by the EIB, provides capacity building and disseminates best practices for:
- investment readiness of intermediaries, especially first time local fund managers
- business and technical training of investee companies/entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship Lab
The ELab, managed by the AfDB and sustained by the EU and OACPS with € 4.7 million, will act as a catalyst for innovation, knowledge, and partnerships by incubating and piloting promising new ideas. It will also assess and disseminate best practices and provide support to business and sectoral ecosystems at country level.