From November 23 to 29, 2022, 45 entrepreneurs from 18 African countries met in Marseille for the 6th edition of the Social & Inclusive Business Camp (SIBC) – an acceleration programme for African social and inclusive businesses. After three months of online training and mentoring, the winning entrepreneurs took part in an intensive week-long bootcamp with training modules, personalised coaching and networking opportunities, finishing with pitch sessions in front of key financial stakeholders in Africa during the EMERGING Valley Summit.
THE SIBC – A PROGRAMME TO ACCELERATE SOCIAL AND INCLUSIVE COMPANIES IN AFRICA
The Social & Inclusive Business Camp (SIBC) is an acceleration programme that has been supporting African social and inclusive businesses that are looking to scale up for 6 years.
Thanks to online and face-to-face training modules, a cross-cutting mentoring system with former participants and networking opportunities with investors, entrepreneurs, and key stakeholders in African entrepreneurial ecosystems, the SIBC helps its winning entrepreneurs to bolster their knowledge of everything to do with scaling up: designing a growth strategy, building a solid team and understanding different styles of leadership, investment readiness, and measuring and enhancing your impact.
Created by the AFD Campus in 2017, funded by the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and supported by the Principality of Monaco, the SIBC has been overseen by a consortium led by Investisseurs et Partenaires, and made up of stakeholders with dovetailing expertise: African Management Institute, ScaleChanger and StartupBRICS since 2020. Alongside the entrepreneurs who have won the programme, these stakeholders are committed to supporting the development of more sustainable and inclusive business models that provide new responses to unresolved social needs by further involving different stakeholders in their value chain (suppliers, distributors, beneficiaries, end users, etc.), and especially vulnerable populations.
“The young, talented and determined [SIBC] entrepreneurs have shown how technological and social innovation can actively contribute to Sustainable Development Goals. They provide answers to today’s challenges while inventing the economy of tomorrow through their actions by creating formal jobs locally, with innovative solutions adapted to contexts and needs, by increasing access to essential goods and services or by creating shared added value.”
Bertrand Walckenaer, Deputy Managing Director of the French Development Agency
The SIBC gauges its relevance on how successful its winners are: two-thirds manage to raise funds after participating in the programme (57% of whom achieve this within a year!), but also on how satisfied they are with their experience as over 83% highly recommend the programme to other entrepreneurs[1].
A WEEK OF LEARNING AND HIGH-IMPACT MEETINGS IN MARSEILLE FOR 45 AFRICAN SIBC SOCIAL AND INCLUSIVE BUSINESSES
After three months of online support comprised of individual work sessions, participative workshops and personalised mentoring by alumni, the winners of the SIBC 2022 met in Marseille for an intensive Bootcamp that focussed on taking a closer look at the topics covered online, and provided opportunities to network with other entrepreneurs in the cohort as well as with investors and other key stakeholders in African entrepreneurial ecosystems. Participants sharing best practices is a key part of the programme, which mobilises many innovative teaching approaches geared towards transforming these game-changing entrepreneurs.
Bringing together 45 entrepreneurs, including 24 women, from 18 African countries between November 23 and 29, 2022, the week was packed with highlights:
- 4 days of training with presentations given by 20 experts on the SIBC key themes: leadership, scale-up strategies, investment readiness and impact measurement, including 1 morning workshop dedicated to female leadership
- 1 day of teambuilding to underpin the relationships of the entrepreneurs who have won the programme
- 1 day of speed meetings, with 30 investors involved in 115 individual meetings with the SIBC entrepreneurs
- 1 day at the EMERGING Valley Summit, with over 20 on-stage interventions by programme stakeholders and 3 panel discussions about the challenges of growth and support for social and inclusive entrepreneurs on the continent.
| FOCUS: Entrepreneur/investor speed meetings, an educational exercise with collaboration opportunities
Preparing the selected entrepreneurs for one-on-one meetings with investors is one of the SIBC educational programme’s main objectives. The aim of these quick 25-minute-long meetings is twofold: to give the entrepreneurs the chance to test and improve their pitch with a genuine financial partner, and build relationships that may help them with future fundraising. The investors also see strong added value in this “inspiring and rewarding” opportunity. After these meetings which were organised by Investisseurs et Partenaires on November 28, many have kept in touch and several meetings have already been organised to follow on from the initial negotiations. |
“The SIBC has now made me dream big – even bigger than before! I can now imagine more impactful solutions for my business. It’s a laboratory (…) everything has its place: leadership, team, value proposition, external stakeholders, growth and distinction strategy, anticipation, etc.”
Nadège Bula-Bula, MY Success (DRC, winner of the SIBC 2022)
THE ALUMNI PROGRAMME HAS A CENTRAL ROLE IN THE SIBC
Peer learning is key to the SIBC’s teaching objectives. The SIBC now has an active community of the 291 entrepreneurs who have won the programme. 41 SIBC alumni mentored the new recruits during the 2022 programme, but also during the bootcamp’s “Startup Clinics”, coaching sessions by experts and seasoned entrepreneurs allowing entrepreneurs to refine their product to maximise their social and economic impact.
“The SIBC has helped me connect with other changemakers across Africa and build a lifelong relationship that will lead to collaborations.”
Ayeni OLAMIDE, Pearl Recycling (Nigeria, winner of the SIBC 2022)
The online and face-to-face workshops that make up this unique community of African SIBC social and inclusive entrepreneurs were also highlights of the 2022 edition. In all, 50 alumni got involved, including 8 in Marseille, to outline an engaged learning community, connected to its ecosystem and inspiring for the future generation of African entrepreneurs.
To learn more about the 6th edition of the SIBC and discover the entrepreneurs, speakers and partners, download the SIBC 2022 Programme Booklet.
[1] 41 programme alumni were surveyed between 2017 – 2021.