Robert Sanders and Krisztina Dax were in Angola from the 13th to 17th of May to meet a number of business incubators, accelerators and other stakeholders supporting the local start-up ecosystem. International Finance Corporation (IFC) Angola is the local BIC Africa implementing partner, and Manuel Caia and Chabir Hassam kindly hosted the BIC Africa team and facilitated a number of one-to-one meetings with key ecosystem players, such as the Founder Institute Luanda, Kianda Hub, Acelera, Angolan Association of Startups and Digital Entrepreneurship, Digital.ao, ISPTEC.
These meetings enabled the BIC Africa team to gain an in-depth understanding of the services offered by the local actors, and to explain to them more about the BIC Africa objectives and support services.
The BIC Africa scoping mission was an important endeavour aimed at identifying and unlocking the potential key players and areas of collaboration, as part of the BIC Africa project Angola chapter, and to contribute to the strengthening of the Angolan startup ecosystem through the project.
Sergio Alves from SPI (EU|BIC Member) also accompanied the team and led a workshop with local incubators to prepare the BIC Africa Boot Camp, that will be organised in Luanda in September 2024. The workshop served to identify some of the key topics to be addressed during the Boot Camp, such as how to ensure the long-term sustainability of incubators.
The BIC Africa team and IFC also met with the Angola National Institute of Support for Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (INAPEM) to share more about EBN’s core activities and to explore long-term collaboration on strengthening and supporting the local ecosystem. In collaboration with IFC and INAPEM, BIC Africa is supporting the innovation ecosystem development in Angola, particularly by supporting the business incubators.
Thanks to INAPEM and IFC, the BIC Africa team were invited to present EBN and BIC Africa at the Start-Up summit held from the 16th to 18th of May, and the team also had an exhibition stand and engaged with the participants to raise awareness of BIC Africa services and upcoming activities.
