The BIC Africa Annual Gathering 2024 (#BICAfrica2024), co-hosted by the INCUBOOST project, took place on the 24th of October 2024 in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
The theme for this year’s gathering was “Accelerating access to sustainable financing for young businesses in Africa!”, tackling the crucial role of access to sustainable finance for young businesses in Africa. Solutions were explored to bring their ideas to fruition, drive local economic development and create new market opportunities. Moreover, the importance of building resilience, adapting to changing social and economic conditions, and long term sustainability was discussed.
H.E. Roland Kobia, Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Madagascar and the Union of Comoros welcomed participants and kicked off the event with a thought-provoking message highlighting the importance of access to finance for small businesses, focusing on young and female entrepreneurs in Africa, and business incubators as multipliers and catalysers for business development. He also emphasised EU’s support in promoting a conducive business environment & supporting entrepreneurship in Africa.
Josiane YAGUIBOU, Resident Coordinator a.i., United Nations in Madagascar and Ranoelimanana Rasamoely VAHINISOA, Secretary General of the Ministry of Industrialization and Trade Madagascar delivered an inspiring keynote on the sustainable financing for young businesses and set the scene for the event.
In the first part of the programme, the BIC Africa project was presented by Robert Sanders, Team Leader of BIC Africa at EBN, followed by the first panel discussions on “Access to finance: a challenge for young businesses? Case studies from Angola, Comoros, Ethiopia and Somalia country projects – micro level” were shared by Linda ESTRELA TAIMO from IFC Angola, Abdoul Anziz SAID ATTOUMANE, UNIDO – APILE Comoros, Oliver PETZOLDT from Sequa – BIC Ethiopia Country Project.
In the scope of the second panel, moderated by Audrey Negui, Executive Director of People Power Inclusion, Jean LAHELLEC from AFD, Laura MUNOZ PEREZ from United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and Hughes Bonse Makalebo from Baobab Bank Madagascar shared about the financial tools and instruments available to young entrepreneurs focusing on Madagascar.
The last panel discussion shed light on the importance of facilitating cooperation between incubator networks and the financial sector for strong startup support ecosystem, whereby Laura MUNOZ PEREZ from UNCDF, Herilalaina RATSIRAHONANA from Tamatave Business Incubator Factory Madagascar, and Wardat Said HACHIM from Com’work Comoros shared their experiences in the panel moderated by Nanou Fiankinana from the United Nations Resident Coordination office Madagascar.
The programme came to an end with the closing remark of Murielle LESALES from the Delegation of the European Union to Madagascar and Volatiana RAKOTONDRAZAFY from UNIDO Madagascar reaffirming the project’s commitment to supporting sustainable access to finance and empowering young entrepreneurs to scale their businesses through collaborated effort. Finally, we had an exciting networking reception.
This third edition brought together over 100 participants, with additional participation online, including business incubation leaders, startup ecosystem experts, entrepreneurs, financial institutions, policymakers, and other stakeholders from the five BIC Africa project countries (Angola, Comoros, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Somalia), as well as participants from the European ecosystem. The event also brought key players from Malagasy ecosystem and enabled them to network and share their insights and experiences.
The BIC Africa Annual Gathering series has become an important annual event to discuss the latest development on the innovation and startup ecosystem in Africa to boost the African startup ecosystem potential. The first two editions of the gathering were held in 2022 and in 2023, and brought together over 200 stakeholders to explore and connect the regional startup ecosystems. In addition to panel sessions and focused thematic discussions, the annual gatherings enabled participants to network, visit local ecosystem, exchange knowledge, explore and foster partnerships, and participate in other side events.
We would like to thank our phenomenal speakers, moderators, the INCUBOOST project – UNIDO, UNCDF and PPI, the implementing partners of the country projects, and the EU Delegations of Angola, Comoros, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Somalia, for making the BIC Africa Annual Gathering 2024 (#BICAfrica2024) a great success.
Special thanks to everyone who took part in-person and online. We would also like to thank our financial partner the European Union as always for their support in making this and our other events possible. We can’t wait to share what we have in store for you for the fourth edition in 2025 (#BICAfrica2025) in Angola.
Finally, a special shoutout to our amazing team who did a great job. We couldn’t be more proud of the dedication and hard work shown.
We look forward to the 2025 edition and continue collaboration with our growing BIC Africa community.
