Deadline: October 20th 2023 | Giz Sais Investment Readiness Programme 2024 (€50 000)
We are a business development and accelerator programme for ICT start-ups in the food, livestock, and agriculture industries in Africa. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be contributed to in large part by startups and the solutions they offer.
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We provide annual Investment Readiness Programmes (IRPs) for the livestock industry in both English and French. We want to put you in a situation where you can generate money for expansion. In order to do this, we give you access to a wide network of professionals, mentors, investors, and business partners.
We have collaborated with around 67 start-ups from more than 20 African nations. After enrolling in our programme, around 60% of the start-ups we sponsored were able to secure further capital totaling more than 32 million USD.
SAIS stands for “Scaling digital Agriculture Innovations through Start-ups” and refers to a project run by the German Agency for International Cooperation/Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ GmbH) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Bayer Cares Foundation jointly support it.
Benefits
- Three customised Investment Readiness Programmes (IRPs) are available from us. One for start-ups from Africa that speak English, one for start-ups from Africa that speak French (PPI), and one just for start-ups from Africa that deal with livestock.
- You will receive individualised help for each IRP. Because we don’t believe there should be a one-size-fits-all approach, we go above and beyond to tailor the support we can provide to your specific requirements and growth objectives.
- A vast array of services with a hypothetical value of roughly 50k EUR will be available to you. These are the services:
- Access to one-on-one coaching sessions with our network of professionals and mentors;
- Additional services to strengthen your startup’s or business model’s a certain aspect (law, marketing, hardware, etc.);
- Dedicated technical support to fortify the foundation of your digital product and enhance your data analytics;
- Integration over a period of six months into a neighbourhood hub to increase contacts and network;
- The chance to learn from and discuss ideas with other founders and our expanding network of graduates;
- Access to online training modules covering important start-up management and expansion themes;
- Access to the extensive network of GIZ institutes and partners;
- Especially for female founders and female management staff, access to the Female Leader Circle.
Eligibility
- The following prerequisites must be satisfied in order for you to be qualified for the SAIS Investment Readiness Programme:
- A legal form
- You must be authorised to do business in Africa.
- A registration certificate is required.
- Group of founders
- A founding team of at least two individuals who ideally work full-time for the start-up is required.
- Your founding and management team should have experience in their respective fields of technology and entrepreneurship.
- Electronic goods and services
- You must have a strong digital offering that increases clients’ incomes.
- Your product must benefit the African agtech, foodtech, or livestock industries (but other influential verticals like e-commerce, fintech, logistics, and edtech may be welcomed).
- Traction and market entry
- At least six months must have passed before the application period for you to have launched your digital product.
- Your startups need to show signs of traction (a customer base and initial sales).
- business strategy
- Your startup should have a clear definition of the problem, a clear digital solution, a clear consumer segment, and a clear income stream in its business model.
- Extras (but not necessary)
- Your team is made up entirely or mostly of female founders or senior executives.
- You or a founding team member have IT experience.
- You and the other members of your founding team have past startup expertise.
- You aim to attract a susceptible customer base with your offering.
For more information, visit Giz Sais Investment Readiness Programme 2024.
