SAIS Investment Readiness Program 2025 For African Tech Start-ups in Agriculture, Livestock, Food and Climate

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Applications are open for SAIS Investment Readiness Program 2025. Are you running a tech start-up with a positive impact for agriculture, livestock, food or climate in Africa? Do you need support to raise investment, reach more customers and increase your impact? Then this free investment readiness programme is for you!

The SAIS Investment Readiness Programme (IRP) offers a year-long, tailor-made company development programme for African tech start-ups in agriculture, livestock, food, and climate. The IRP – available in French and English – aims to support you to raise investments and scale up your business!

The SAIS Investment Readiness Programme 2025 is offered by “Scaling digital Agriculture Innovations through Start-ups (SAIS)”, a project implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is co-funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Bayer Cares Foundation. You can find more information about us and our team here or on our LinkedIn page.

SAIS Investment Readiness Programme (IRP) Benefits

Selected start-ups receive services worth up to 35,000 EUR including:

Mentorship and coaching with local and international experts tailored to your specific needs to develop and implement strategies for rapid growth.
Additional services & technical resources to optimise certain key areas of your business, e.g. legal advice, online marketing, digital product optimization, design, and coding.
Individual trainings, e.g. pitch training, growth strategy, data analytics & management, term sheet, valuation, market analysis, marketing & sales.
Investment and partnership facilitation, e.g. guidance on fundraising strategy, preparation of fundraising rounds, support for due-diligence processes, introduction to investors & funds.
Networking and showcasing opportunities at two in-person community events scheduled back-to-back with the Africa Tech Summit in Nairobi, and one additional sector conference (travel costs for one representative from each start-up are covered by the programme).
Community exchanges and peer-learning, e.g. virtual group trainings and workshops, company visits, deal rooms, topical exchanges and inputs from external speakers and guests.

Add-ons on an as-needed basis:

Programme for Female Leaders: networking, peer-to-peer learning and increased visibility for female founders and women in leading positions.
Cash2Start-ups: access to working capital loans of up to 50,000 EUR for up to 9 months, designed to support your growth.
Digital Agency Support: targeted technical assistance to start-ups to work on their digital components and become more data driven.

Eligibility Criteria for SAIS Investment Readiness Program

To be eligible for the programme, your company must meet the following minimum requirements:

Be registered in Africa
Be for-profit
Have a minimum viable product
Have a digital or tech-enabled solution for the agriculture, food or livestock value chain
Have a management team of at least two people
Have evidence of traction (paying customers, first revenue)
Contribute to climate change adaptation, income generation and/or food & nutrition security.

SAIS Investment Readiness Program Programme Timeline

August to November 2024 | Selection Process

SAIS and VC4A will host two info sessions-webinars aiming to answer your questions about the program and the eligibility criteria, criteria of selection, program overview, timeline and more. The session will be held on August 15, 2024 in both English and French, you can select and register to the sessions here.

Complete the online application form in English or in French to apply to the programme by Monday, 2 September 2024 at 23:59 CET (German time). SAIS will review the online applications and invite long-listed applicants for interviews which will take place in October. SAIS aims to notify selected start-ups by mid-November 2024.

December 2024 to March 2025 | Needs Assessment and Development Planning

We will conduct a virtual onboarding session in December where you will e-meet your fellow innovators. You will be paired with a navigator from the SAIS team who serves as your main point of contact during the programme. Together with your navigator, you will draft a development plan specifying your support needs and planning for the deployment of the SAIS IRP services. Where possible, your navigator will conduct a field visit to better understand your business model, operations, and customers.