GreenTec Capital Partners has signed an MOU with the Senegalese General Delegation for the Acceleration of Entrepreneurship for Women and Young People, DER under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Senegal.
The two will establish the first regional Venture Building Center in Africa to tackle investment challenges by providing investment tickets between € 10,000 and € 500,000 for entrepreneurs at the cusp of their growth stages.
The deal was signed by the Minister Delegate for Entrepreneurship, Papa Amadou Sarr, and the CEO and co-founder of GreenTec Capital Partners, Erick Yong. The deal will see young Senegalese entrepreneurs get financing, strengthening their operations, build infrastructure to enable the sustainably of startups to a stage of sustainable growth, thereby overcoming the “valley of death.”
The DER, created in 2017 and operational since March 2018, has been provided with a budget of $ 5 million per year, until 2023 to achieve these goals. DER, the Senegalese General Delegation for the Acceleration of Entrepreneurship for Women and Young People is an initiative of the President of the Republic of Senegal, H.E. Macky Sall.
The collaboration also coincides with the ambitions of the French initiative Digital Africa led by Karim Sy. Mr. Sy has guaranteed to lend the full support of the French initiative to this new ecosystem building centre, which is based on the sharing of resources and the catalyzing of actors in the African entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Through its innovation fund the DER has already invested in 44 Senegalese startups in 2018, with ticket sizes ranging from € 10,000 to € 100,000. In 2019, the DER aims to support more than 150 digital Startups and SMEs, by investing more than 10 million euros, while supporting an additional twenty Start-ups with the GreenTec Capital venture-building model.
Senegal is also launching a “The DER Innovation HUB” to position Senegal as a major player in the field of innovation on a regional level. The Hub will host major technology companies, innovators, incubators, and accelerators.
The agreement also includes the establishment of the new GreenTec Capital regional office in Dakar to help raise the critical operational capabilities of companies to help make them more attractive for international investors.
