In Marseille on 13 and 14 December 2021, the Emerging Valley Summit brought together all the players in the Europe-Africa entrepreneurial ecosystem. MEET AFRICA, financed by the French Development Agency and the European Union and implemented by Expertise France, took advantage of this moment of exchange to present its ambitions, its programme and its actors. As a prelude to the summit, on 13 December, laureates and incubators from the diaspora questioned the programme's responses to their specific needs and imagined new solutions to their requirements during two co-construction workshops.
In the plenary session, the project leader, Habiba Addi, discussed the theme of financing with entrepreneurs, public banks and private investment funds: "This year, we are responding to 3 needs of our entrepreneurs: training, simplification of formalities with incubators and seed financing," she said.
The twenty winners present took turns to speak at various round tables. This was the case of Marwa Moula, leader of the ILEY'COM project in Tunisia, who spoke on the theme of "how female entrepreneurship is transforming the African economic landscape" alongside other inspiring women entrepreneurs. Or the geolocation start-up "Vas-y" was represented by Dhia Souei during the workshop "Why and how can geospatial data revolutionise the economic development of the African continent?
In the afternoon, the round table "They make MEET AFRICA!" brought together all the actors of the programme. Moderated by Christian Jekinnou, MEET AFRICA expert in charge of institutional partnerships, a MEET AFRICA 2 laureate, Nina Sandrine N'guetta, founder of Atelier Blayo in Abidjan, Herman Kouassi, General Manager of Incub'Ivoire, Zineb Hatim, General Manager of Maroc Entrepreneurs and Duplex Kamgang, MEET AFRICA 1 laureate: "Entrepreneurs can help other entrepreneurs, you have to be in that mindset".
All the winners had the opportunity to meet financiers, entrepreneurs, potential prospects and partners, and spoke at various round tables to explain the contribution of MEET AFRICA's support to the implementation of their project.
