The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group said Friday they were joining forces in an initiative that aims to strengthen their support for early-stage enterprises and accelerators in North Africa. Under the initiative, a pilot project will be rolled out in one North African country, then expanded across the region. The aim is to deliver «a higher level of integrated support for start-up development and the start-up ecosystem.» Capitalising on the two institutions' specialised programmes - the EBRD Star Venture programme and the IFC Startup Catalyst - the goal of the new initiative is to create synergies and boost the development impact of the two programmes by addressing the challenges that exist in the early-stage space and by making North African start-ups more commercially sustainable and successful. The EBRD Star Venture programme was launched in 2018. It targets high-potential start-ups (HPSUs) by providing them business advice and capacity-building support to strengthen start-up ecosystems. To date, the Star Venture programme has supported more than 600 start-ups, including over 180 HPSUs and 25 accelerators, in 22 countries. The IFC Startup Catalyst was launched in 2016. It is a platform that invests in incubators, accelerators and seed funds, supporting innovative, early-stage start-ups in emerging markets through mentoring, networking and funding. As of December 2022, the IFC Startup Catalyst had supported 19 accelerators and seed funds that had invested in over 1,180 start-ups in 24 countries.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique