Back to All Events

SAIS INVESTMENT READINESS PROGRAMME 2025

Description

The SAIS Investment Readiness Programme (IRP) offers a year-long, tailor-made company development programme for African tech start-ups in agriculture, livestock, food, and climate. The IRP – available in French and English – aims to support you to raise investments and scale up your business!

What the programme offers:

Selected start-ups receive services worth up to 35,000 EUR including:

  • Mentorship and coaching with local and international experts tailored to your specific needs to develop and implement strategies for rapid growth.

  • Additional services & technical resources to optimise certain key areas of your business, e.g. legal advice, online marketing, digital product optimization, design, and coding.

  • Individual trainings, e.g. pitch training, growth strategy, data analytics & management, term sheet, valuation, market analysis, marketing & sales.

  • Investment and partnership facilitation, e.g. guidance on fundraising strategy, preparation of fundraising rounds, support for due-diligence processes, introduction to investors & funds.

  • Networking and showcasing opportunities at two in-person community events scheduled back-to-back with the Africa Tech Summit in Nairobi, and one additional sector conference (travel costs for one representative from each start-up are covered by the programme).

  • Community exchanges and peer-learning, e.g. virtual group trainings and workshops, company visits, deal rooms, topical exchanges and inputs from external speakers and guests.

Add-ons on an as-needed basis:

  • Programme for Female Leaders: networking, peer-to-peer learning and increased visibility for female founders and women in leading positions.

  • Cash2Start-ups: access to working capital loans of up to 50,000 EUR for up to 9 months, designed to support your growth.

  • Digital Agency Support: targeted technical assistance to start-ups to work on their digital components and become more data driven.

Who can apply?

To be eligible for the programme, your company must meet the following minimum requirements:

  • Be registered in Africa

  • Be for-profit

  • Have a minimum viable product

  • Have a digital or tech-enabled solution for the agriculture, food or livestock value chain

  • Have a management team of at least two people

  • Have evidence of traction (paying customers, first revenue)

  • Contribute to climate change adaptation, income generation and/or food & nutrition security

Deadline

September 2nd, 2024

Find application form here