The 2023 Accelerate Africa for African Entrepreneurs

The 2023 Accelerate Africa for African Entrepreneurs program is a broad initiative with the objective to sustain the growth and development of African entrepreneurs and their businesses. The program will supply African entrepreneurs with access to resources such as training, mentorship, and capital, as well as access to markets and networks. It will also create opportunities for cooperation and partnerships between African entrepreneurs, investors, and development organizations. The goal of the initiative is to increase the number of successful African entrepreneurs and to create a vibrant ecosystem that will support their continued success.

Recently, Prosper Africa and Future Africa proclaimed the launch of the 2023 Accelerate Africa program. The program offers intensive guidance, mentorship, and resources for early-stage African Founders. In cooperation with Prosper Africa, Future Africa will assist dynamic African entrepreneurs as they venture on a 7-week pre-accelerator program that will equip them for global scale through accelerator programs such as Y-Combinator, 500 Startups, and Techstars. The program will place these entrepreneurs to raise more investment finance and build more robust startups. The 2023 Accelerate Africa for African Entrepreneurs

This collaboration delivers on the U.S. Government’s commitments from the U.S-Africa Leaders Summit to increase investment in the continent. Prosper Africa dedicated $170 million in the Summit’s Deal Room to improve U.S. investment in Africa and African exports to the United States by $2 billion in the next five years, including through the new Prosper Africa Catalytic Investment Facility.

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Future Africa is one of five African asset managers collaborating with the U.S. Government under the new Prosper Africa Catalytic Investment Facility. With $6 million in U.S. Government funding, these first five partnerships expect to mobilize more than $200 million in private capital to fuel African innovation and entrepreneurship. In partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Prosper Africa’s new Catalytic Investment Facility invests in African funds that have a pipeline of growth-oriented businesses across the continent. The investment facility unlocks private capital to drive scale and sustainability while decreasing the risk for prospective U.S. investors. This approach deepens the initiative’s reach and catalyzes greater investment into high-growth, small, and medium-sized businesses across the African continent, with a focus on those that are advancing African solutions to global challenges.

Our goal at Accelerate Africa (A2) is to transform the way you craft your startup’s narrative and package its value proposition to best position you for successful application(s).

• One-on-one application support by global accelerator alumni from Africa: You will work closely with a group of star mentors who have been accepted to and gone through a global accelerator. They will provide active guidance and soundboard your thoughts as you build out your application.
• A curated community of leading applicants going through the process together: Building a startup can be isolating and challenging, but collaborating with other like-minded people lessens this burden. This includes tapping into our local and global network that spans over 300 investors and over 100 startups to learn from and exchange knowledge.
• 3. Strategic investment from leading African VCs to further catalyze your journey: We will make strategic introductions and recommendations to our global network of co-investors. At the culmination of our program, you will also have the opportunity to pitch your business to leading African VCs during our Demo Day. Additionally, our Investment Committee will invest $75,000 for 5% equity in select cohort startups.

Requirements

Accelerate Africa (A2) equips early-stage African founders for global scale. A2 acknowledges partners who can supply them with access to capital, customers, and channels that can catalyze their trajectories such as Global Technology Accelerators like Y Combinator, 500 Startups, and Techstars; Governments; Global Technology Companies, and Entrepreneur Support Organizations.

The 2023 Accelerate Africa for African Entrepreneurs