Who are we?
Manifesto
Following on from phase 1, in which 80 business creation projects were supported, edition 2 continues the deployment of the scheme.
The MEET Africa programme was born of an observation and a desire shared by two continents. Africa is a continent bubbling with potential and innovation and its European diaspora is a dynamic and legitimate relay.
Our programme is part of the continuity of actions carried out for years by the European Union and the Member States, in particular France and Germany, to promote the dynamics of wealth and job creation in Africa. Thus, we believe in the animation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem between this diaspora and the European and African support actors.
We have chosen to support them with a dedicated mechanism. They do not lack dreams and ideas. What they need is interconnected guidance and support networks to move from desires to reality.
MEET Africa's raison d'être is to empower entrepreneurs to contribute to economic development and job creation in their home countries.
From the provision of targeted information, to the connection with support actors and accompaniment to financing, MEET Africa aims to be the organic and organised network of diaspora entrepreneurs.
MEET Africa gives you the means to do business in Africa.
Presentation
MEET Africa (Mobilisation Européenne pour l'Entrepreneuriat en Afrique) is a project implemented by Expertise Franceco-financed with 8.5 million by the European Union and the French Development Agency.
The challenges of MEET Africa
The overall objective of the MEET Africa programme (European Mobilisation for Entrepreneurship in Africa) is to foster business and job creation in Africa by mobilising the talents and resources of the diaspora living in Europe and/or newly resettled on the African continent.
MEET Africa 2 is the successor to Meet Africa 1, which was implemented from June 2016 to October 2018 by Expertise France, in partnership with IRD, Campus France and GIZ, and financed to the tune of 1.7 million euros by the European Union.
During this first phase, MEET Africa 1 supported 80 entrepreneurs from 6 African countries (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Cameroon, Senegal, Mali), of which 1/3 were women, and created 272 jobs.
The MEET Africa 2 programme has built on the successes of the pilot phase while strengthening the components relating to
- Dissemination of information to diaspora entrepreneurs ;
- A simplified co-incubation support path between Europe and Africa;
- The seed funding contribution (seed fund + '2 million).
MEET Africa 2: scaling up
The objective of MEET Africa 2 is to renew, strengthen and expand the mobilisation of the talents and financial resources of the African diaspora in Europe and/or newly resettled on the African continent.
MEET Africa has the following specific objectives to :
- Strengthen the skills and ecosystem of entrepreneurship support actors
- Building diaspora entrepreneurs' skills and equity
The main expected results are :
- The creation of a digital platform to facilitate access to the service offer available to diasporas
- Strengthening of technical support actors for entrepreneurship: coaching, networking, financial support
- Technical support for the creation or development of business projects
- The strengthening of companies' equity and the identification of complementary financial arrangements.
MEET Africa: where do we stand?
The project started with the launch on 9 December 2020 of a first call for diaspora entrepreneurs on the website meetafrica.fr
applications were received
of projects are led by women
winning projects
African institutional partners
funded incubators
MEET Africa support
MEET Africa is part of the common law support systems, supports and reinforces them around the support of the diaspora.
MEET Africa'ssupport offers 3 services:
1 - Creating a network
Do you have a business project?
The MEET Africa Hub offers you:
- contact with support organisations in France and in Africa
- access to best practices, relay of opportunities, organisation of events with a personalised news feed
What if your project started here? Join the MEET Africa Hub today.
2 - Accompanying you here and there
Setting up a business is a real learning curve that is difficult to envisage when you are on your own.
The good news is that 87% of incubated companies are sustainable.
Under the supervision of support operators and coaching structures, you benefit, depending on your needs:
from support in the dual space (Europe - Africa)
from a coaching service, advice, workshops, training...
from a link with support actors in Africa
3 - Offer you seed funding
Funding is a key element of business start-up. MEET Africa offers entrepreneurs with mature projects endowment funding for:
Accelerate your development
Mobilise additional funding.
You are the entrepreneur, you remain at the centre of the decisions and set the pace for your progress.
MEET our partners
The implementation operator
Institutional partners
MEET Africa 2 has a budget of €8.5 million funded by the European Union and the French Development Agency.
Institutional partners
They are members of the project's steering committee, they participate in the selection juries, in the promos' kicks off, in the MEET Africa events and they all contribute to the support of the winning entrepreneurs and much more...
Support structures
Within the framework of the MEET Africa project, Expertise France finances support structures in France and in each partner country to accompany our laureates in a co-incubation process.
Operational partners
Our Winners
The MEET Africa programme, which was set up in December 2002 through its first call for applications, aims to offer entrepreneurs from the diaspora technical and financial support to carry out their projects on the continent. MEET Africa aims to be the organic and organised network of entrepreneurs in Africa. This brochure is a collection of all the MEET Africa laureates of the 2021 cohort.
In December 2020, MEET AFRICA's first call for applications attracted 855 applications. After studying the applications and hearing the candidates before a neutral and plural jury, 76 projects were selected.
This brochure is a collection of all MEET Africa laureates of the 2021 cohort. Discover our winners.
If you want to join the MEET AFRICA 2 winners, apply!