At VivaTech, Agence francaise de développement group alongside african start-ups

published on 21 June 2022
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Vivatech
Europe’s biggest Tech event, which was held in Paris from 15 to 18 June, was full of visitors and innovation. The event was marked by the visit of the French President and the presence of a number of African start-ups supported by Agence Française de Développement Group.

Over the years, VivaTech has become the key European event dedicated to new technologies. An XXL event which, this year once again, has gathered the most promising and representative French and foreign Tech players.

A total of 91,000 visitors and 2,000 exhibitors, including 1,700 start-ups, gathered from 15 to 18 June at Porte de Versailles in Paris. During the four days of this exhibition, which featured a number of conferences and key business meetings (followed online free of charge by some 300,000 people connected), the digital world demonstrated its vitality and questioned the role of new technologies at a time when the climate emergency calls for us to change our habits.

Indeed, this edition opened its aisles wide to innovations for the environment (“GreenTech”, “CleanTech” and “Climate Tech”). It also focused its program on openness to the world by inviting start-ups from a large number of countries (over 30).

AFRICAN TECH CREATIVITY IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Agence française de développement (AFD) Group naturally hooked up to this major event.

Indeed, the tie-up between Digital Africa and Proparco now makes it possible to offer a single continuum of financing solutions for African start-ups, from the seed stage to the scaling-up stage. PROPARCO has been supporting financing for African start-ups for several years, both directly and by supporting the venture capital ecosystem. Digital Africa is strengthening these solutions in order to step up support for start-ups at the idea stage.

At the event, AFD Group took part in several panel discussions dedicated to innovation ecosystems in emerging countries, especially in Africa.

A panel was also devoted to the potential of “Made in Africa” Tech, in particular in the field of financial services. Regulatory frameworks, new business models… “Over the past 5 years, African FinTech has seen strong growth. […] Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa and Kenya dominate the market, but examples in Senegal show that French-speaking Africa is absolutely not lagging behind”, said Jean-Gabriel Dayre, Senior Investment Officer at Proparco.

Digital Africa also moderated a panel discussion on health technologies (“Health Tech”) and Isadora Bigourdan, Chief Programs Officer at Digital Africa, took part in a panel discussion on women’s entrepreneurship in Africa.

The event closed with a panel discussion during which Stéphan-Eloïse Gras, CEO of Digital Africaalongside Eric Zontsop Lekuikeu, Investment Officer at Proparco, and Fatoumata Ba from Janngo Capital, presented the investment continuum in Africa’s technological ecosystem.
 

Stéphan-Eloïse Gras gave details about the new Fuzé fund, launched with Proparco and tailored to the seed stage of start-ups in French-speaking Africa. “Seed is one of the most exciting but also the most difficult moments of the entrepreneurial journey in Africa”, said the CEO of Digital Africa. “We are joining forces with PROPARCO to provide concrete solutions at all stages of a start-up's life.”

It was an opportunity for the start-ups Anka (e-commerce - Côte d’Ivoire) - financed by the Bridge Fund by Digital Africa and GoMyCode (EdTech -  Tunisia) – which recently raised $8M Series A round led by AfricInvest, through the Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund (CAIF), Proparco and Wamda Capital – to share their analyses and feedback (see the testimonials below).

In the French Tech Pavilion, their managers also held discussions with the French President, Emmanuel Macron, Rémy Rioux, Chief Executive Officer of AFD Group, and Stéphan-Eloïse Gras, Executive Director of Digital Africa.

Vivatech


 

FIRST EDITION OF THE “AFRICATECH AWARDS”

PROPARCO was also involved – alongside the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – in the first edition of the “AfricaTech Awards” competition which rewarded innovative start-ups. The winners are Chefaa (Health Tech - Egypt), Weee Centre (Climate Tech - Kenya) and Click2Sure (FinTech - South Africa).

Françoise Lombard“The [African] digital sector is one of the main vehicles for the continent’s development”, said Françoise Lombard, CEO of PROPARCO, at the “AfricaTech Awards” ceremony on the main stage of VivaTech. “Job creation, the fight against climate change and access to essential goods and services will necessarily involve innovation and entrepreneurship.”


 

 


 

 

 

 




Three encounters at VivaTech
 

Fatoumata Ba

FATOUMATA BA

CEO of Janngo & Managing Partner of Janngo Capital

We share a common ambition with Proparco: support the economic development of start-ups and Africa’s private sector. This economic impact must go hand in hand with job creation for young people, women and, more generally, support the SDGs.

It’s urgent. Africa’s population is set to double over the next 30 years, from 1.2 billion to 2.5 billion inhabitants. We need to find massive resources in a very short time to provide widespread access to essential products and services.

Technology is an incredible development accelerator. In health and education in particular – sectors where the public service in Africa doesn’t have access to all the populations – the technological innovations driven by local start-ups have a crucial role to play. Moreover, our fund only invests in projects that use innovation as a development accelerator.

I’m really pleased to see that VivaTech, for this 6th edition, has given a prominent place to inclusion and the energy transition.”


Guillaume Darnaudet

GUILLAUME DARNAUDET

CFO of ANKA

ANKA is an Ivorian e-commerce start-up dedicated to African designers. Our solution, which we launched in 2021, allows our users to sell and ship their products all over the world, but also to receive their funds through international, African and local means of payment. These technological solutions are crucial for development in Africa.

We also operate throughout Africa, very much in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal in particular.

Last year, we received €300,000 of support from the Bridge Fund by Digital Africa for the preparation of a pre-Series A funding round, which we have since conducted for €5.4 million. Our objective with this fundraising is to increase the number of subscribers to our SaaS solution by seeking new markets.”


Yahya Boulhel

YAHYA BOULHEL

CEO and co-founder of GoMyCode

“GoMyCode meets an essential need of the African tech market: recruit talent and train them in new technologies. GoMyCode was set up in 2017 and today has a network of some 20 schools in 8 African countries (Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Egypt and Bahrain).

We offer about 30 hybrid training programs (online and face-to-face) for 5,000 active students and 500 trainers.

Africa has the highest concentration of 15-30 year-olds in the world. The issue of the training and employability of these young people is one of the main challenges facing the continent. This is the objective of the GoMyCode project at its level: provide technological skills to a generation of young Africans who are increasingly connected and open to the world. To meet these development needs, we’ve just closed a $8 million Series A funding round conducted by AfricInvest, through the Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund (CAIF), PROPARCO and Wamda Capital.”