The first edition of the BIC Africa soft-landing programme that aimed to enable valuable exchanges between African and European business incubators was held in France from 10th to 12th of June.
This first edition featured 6 business incubation experts representing 5 business incubators from Comoros and Madagascar, who were hosted by the 4 EU|BICs in four different cities in France, the visiting incubators had a chance to:
🤝Connect with European counterparts for knowledge sharing, partnerships, and explore the possibility of developing exchange programmes.
🚀Gain experience to successfully launch and run sustainable incubation hubs.
📐Strengthen knowledge and capacity in designing and executing incubation programmes to help entrepreneurs build scalable businesses.
🔍Identify and develop business models that align with their local realities to drive growth and sustainability of the business incubator.
🔐Access different markets, investors, and partners through the EU|BIC wide network.
The expertise of EU|BIC enriched my experience and made the programme instructive and memorable. I had opportunity to discover new approach and share innovative ideas that will benefit our organisation. I am convinced that the links established during this program will continue and will contribute to the expansion of our respective incubators.
Joanna Rabesoa, Director of Agribusiness Academy at ISA Agribusiness, Madagascar
The soft-landing programme is aimed at the selected business incubation experts to boost their capacities. It was designed and built upon the success of our capacity-enhancing activities for business incubator experts. It will nurture, empower and drive forward their respective ecosystems by addressing the challenges faced, and will enable them to implement future programmes to power their startup ecosystems using the learning, skills and networking from the programme.
I spent two incredible days immersed with this incubator in Chartres, followed by three days of participation in the EBN congress in Nantes. These enriching experiences will allow us to further strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Comoros!
Anazra Mohamed, founder and General Manager of OUSSAÏD, Comoros
In addition, on the 13th and 14th of June they participated at the EBN congress 2024 in Nantes, where they actively engaged with the BIC Africa team. Furthermore, they were also able to network with the congress participants and met numerous potential partners for future collaboration. Finally, BIC Africa also hosted a dedicated 2-hour workshop where the French host EU|BICs and the hosted incubators could debrief and share about their experience of the soft landing, as well as meet other EU|BICs.
We would like to thank all the host EU|BICs for hosting the visiting incubators, the APILE Comoros and INCUBOOST Madagascar country projects for their support in making this soft-landing programme a reality. Special thanks to our financial partner, the European Commission and DG INTPA.
Meet this year’s soft-landing programme 2024 participants and hosts:
- Anazra Mohamed from OUSSAÏD hosted at The Place by CCI 28- Eure et Loir
- Fouad SAID HACHIM from Innov’lab hosted at Descartes Développement & Innovation
- Naina Lucien RABEARIMANANA from NGO Anôsy Regional’s Business Center hosted at Wacano
- Joanna Rabesoa from ISA Agribusiness (Initiatives for Sustainable Agribusiness) hosted at The Place by CCI 28- Eure et Loir
- Fitahinasoa SOLEIMAN from ISA Agribusiness (Initiatives for Sustainable Agribusiness) hosted at Descartes Développement & Innovation
- Jonathan Rakotoarisoa from Zafy Tody hosted at ESTIA Institute of technology
Mark your calendars and Stay tuned for this year BIC Africa Annual Gathering 2024 (#BICAfrica2024) scheduled for Thursday, October 24th, in-person in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
