2022 MEET Africa Entrepreneurship Programme for Diasporan Africans.
Following on from phase 1, in which 80 business creation projects were supported, edition 2 continues the deployment of the scheme.
The MEET Africa programme 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 relay.
Our programme is part of the continuity of actions carried out for years by the European Union and the Member States, in particular France and Germany, to promote the dynamics of wealth and job creation in Africa. Thus, we believe in the animation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem between this diaspora and the European and African support actors.
We have chosen to support them with a dedicated mechanism. They do not lack dreams and ideas. What they need is interconnected guidance and support networks to move from desires to reality.
MEET Africa’s raison d’être is to empower entrepreneurs to contribute to economic development and job creation in their home countries.
From the provision of targeted information, to the connection with support actors and accompaniment to financing, MEET Africa aims to be the organic and organised network of diaspora entrepreneurs.
MEET Africa gives you the means to do business in Africa.
MEET Africa (Mobilisation Européenne pour l’Entrepreneuriat en Afrique) is a project implemented by Expertise Franceco-financed with 8.5 million by the European Union and the French Development Agency.
The challenges of MEET Africa
The overall objective of the MEET Africa programme (European Mobilisation for Entrepreneurship in Africa) is to foster business and job creation in Africa by mobilising the talents and resources of the diaspora living in Europe and/or newly resettled on the African continent.
MEET Africa 2 is the successor to Meet Africa 1, which was implemented from June 2016 to October 2018 by Expertise France, in partnership with IRD, Campus France and GIZ, and financed 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, Mali), of which 1/3 were women, and created 272 jobs.
The MEET Africa 2 programme has built on the successes of the pilot phase while strengthening the components relating to
- Dissemination of information to diaspora entrepreneurs ;
- A simplified co-incubation support path between Europe and Africa;
- The seed funding contribution (seed fund + ‘2 million).
MEET Africa 2: scaling up
The objective of MEET Africa 2 is to renew, strengthen and expand the mobilisation of the talents and financial resources of the African diaspora in Europe and/or newly resettled on the African continent.
MEET Africa has the following specific objectives to :
- Strengthen the skills and ecosystem of entrepreneurship support actors
- Building diaspora entrepreneurs’ skills and equity
The main expected results are :
- The creation of a digital platform to facilitate access to the service offer available to diasporas
- Strengthening of technical support actors for entrepreneurship: coaching, networking, financial support
- Technical support for the creation or development of business projects
- The strengthening of companies’ equity and the identification of complementary financial arrangements.
Expertise France launches the 2ndcall for applications for entrepreneurs from the African diaspora
” MEET Africa is about empowering you to do business in Africa.
Are you an entrepreneur from the African diaspora?
Your project is in creation or you have a company less than 3 years old?
Are you based in the EU or in one of the partner countries?
Your project will be implemented in one of the partner countries in Africa or on both continents Europe – Africa?
Apply on https://www.meetafrica.fr/postuler/
Open from Monday 9 May to Wednesday 15 June 2022
Question and Answer webinar broadcast live online on Youtube, Facebooklive
Registration on the following link: Eventbrite
Programme funded by the European Union and the French Development Agency
Presentation of MEET Africa by the President of the French Republic
