Manifesto
The MEET Africa program 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 intermediary. Diaspora entrepreneurs have no shortage of ideas and dreams. To make the most of them, they still often need interconnected guidance and support networks, as well as financing.
MEET Africa is a continuation of actions carried out over the years by the European Union, AFD and Expertise France to promote the dynamic creation of wealth and jobs in Africa. MEET Africa 2 is a unique program that mobilizes both public and private players in entrepreneurial ecosystems, as well as entrepreneurs, to strengthen economic ties between Africa and Europe.
Working alongside public partners in the project's host countries, MEET Africa 2's raison d'être is to give diaspora entrepreneurs the means to contribute to economic development and sustainable job creation in their home countries.
We believe that mobilizing the talents and resources of the African diaspora, stimulating entrepreneurial ecosystems and providing tailor-made support for entrepreneurs have a direct impact on the socio-economic development of the African continent.
We have therefore chosen to deploy a wide range of activities, co-constructed with our local partners: diagnostics, technical support, financing, provision of targeted information, contacts with support players, technical assistance, study visits, mapping, organization of themed events, etc.
MEET Africa, through its partners and beneficiaries, promotes and supports diaspora talent and positions entrepreneurs as key players in co-development between Africa and Europe, as bridges between the two continents!
Presentation
MEET Africa 2 succeeds MEET Africa 1 implemented from June 2016 to October 2018 by Expertise France, in partnership with the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), Campus France and GIZ (Germany), funded 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 and Mali), a third of whom were women, and created 272 jobs.
MEET Africa 2: continuing and strengthening activities to promote entrepreneurship among African diasporas
The MEET Africa 2 program has built on the successes of the pilot phase, while reinforcing the aspects relating to the dissemination of information to entrepreneurs in the diaspora; the design of a pathway to support entrepreneurs in co-incubation between Europe and Africa; the provision of seed financing (seed fund of 2 million euros).
MEET Africa 2 continues and expands the mobilization of diaspora talents and financial resources to create sustainable jobs in Africa.
The 2 main areas of intervention of the MEET Africa 2 project
The strengthening and coordinating entrepreneurial support ecosystems in partner countries.
Examples include: organization of events to bring together and share experiences between public and private players in the field of entrepreneurship support, technical assistance, study visits, benchmarking and mapping of players.
Tailor-made support for diaspora entrepreneurs.
These include: information (networking with support players in the dual Africa-Europe space, opportunity relays, events), technical support from recognized support operators(coaching, training, B-to-B events), financing (endowments 1 & 2, coaching in mobilizing financing).
To best meet the needs of the field, the MEET Africa 2 project has been co-constructed with all the players in the support ecosystems of the partner countries.
Project impacts since 2020
- Technical support for 142 entrepreneurial projects.
- 116 projects financed.
- Mobilizing over 5,000 people in capacity-building, networking and awareness-raising workshops on diaspora entrepreneurship.
- Development of specific content dedicated to supporting diaspora entrepreneurship in the dual Africa-Europe space.
On the strength of these numerous activities, MEET Africa 2 benefits from high political and media visibility, helping to put diaspora mobilization on the agenda of national, regional and international priorities for the development of African economies.
Impacts
projects received via 2 calls for projects
of projects are led by women
project leaders supported and financed
people involved in information and networking events
jobs created
MEET Africa 2 program activities
CAPACITY BUILDING & CAPITALIZATION TOOLS
- Design and organization of capacity-building activities with all stakeholders (entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship support structures, public institutions) in order to establish reliable diagnoses of offers and needs in partner countries and build networks of committed players.
- Design and dissemination of capitalization tools to share best practices in entrepreneurship support for African diasporas.
ANIMATING ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEMS
- A survey of existing information, offers and structures.
- Coordination of networks of entrepreneurial support structures (SAE) in our 5 partner countries to develop service offerings targeting diaspora entrepreneurs and their specific needs.
- Design and organization of information, capacity-building and networking events to facilitate the emergence of projects and the connection of entrepreneurs in partner countries: MEET Entrepreneurs, MEET SAE, MEET Institutions, MEET Ecosystem, and MEET Her - events specially dedicated to women entrepreneurs.
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Audit of needs and design of technical assistance programs for national institutional partners to improve the systems dedicated to diaspora entrepreneurs:
- Senegal: establishment of a one-stop online service for entrepreneurs wishing to launch a project in Senegal, and to promote productive investment in the country.
- Côte d'Ivoire: strengthening of a digital platform to promote skills and investment opportunities in Côte d'Ivoire.
- Cameroon: organization of an interministerial study tour to Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Morocco as part of the structuring of a support fund dedicated to financing entrepreneurship by the Cameroonian diaspora.
- Morocco: development of a remote support platform for diaspora entrepreneurs for the Technopark incubator.
- Tunisia: set-up of a soft landing facility within The Dot innovation hub and organization of events to inform and raise awareness among the Tunisian diaspora (Paris, Lyon, Marseille) of entrepreneurial opportunities in Tunisia.
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!