At the third edition of the ongoing VivaTech trade fair in Paris, President Emmanuel Macron of France declared that his country will be giving backing to a new $76 million (€65 million) digital project that will offer funding for African startups.
To carry on with this mandate, sums ranging from €30,000 to €50,000 would be provided from the French Development Agency (AFD) to African entrepreneurs.
The scheme will be launched in the coming weeks so that African startups can apply.
President Macron has openly made entrepreneuship a core aspect of France’s domestic policy. After he became President in 2017, he quickly announced his plans to make France a startup nation, meaning France will act and think like a startup.
As it is now, that plan is extending beyond the borders of France. That Africa has come up as a possible destination doesn’t exactly come as a surprise.
Macron has made recent visits to Africa and has lauded the impressive initiative coming from the continent.
“African startups have energy but the big providers of development aid and financiers have not adapted to that. We ourselves are too slow, too hesitant,” he said.
Fad or not, the African startups needs more of this input to bolster its fleding tech ecosystems; especially seeing that funding is a challenge for most African startups.
