FoodSafety4Africa Open Call 2 for African and European Food Innovation Hubs (Up To €40,000 Funding)

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Applications are open for FoodSafety4Africa Open Call 2. The 2nd Open Call aims to provide financial support to third parties (innovation hubs) to train use case partners, open call beneficiaries by providing mentoring and accelerating innovative business concepts, including social innovation and upscaling in view of African or European food business entrepreneurs and start-ups.

The FS4Africa Open Call 2 is designed specifically for innovation hubs that can provide structured capacity-building support to food safety actors, including entrepreneurs, start-ups, and organisations developing innovative solutions within African and European food systems.

Through the Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) mechanism, FS4Africa will provide funding to selected third-party organisations that can deliver training, mentoring, and business acceleration support to food safety innovators, entrepreneurs, start-ups, and project beneficiaries.

The Open Call 2 will support at least five (5) selected projects, with a total funding allocation of €200,000. Each successful project can receive up to €40,000 in financial support.

FoodSafety4Africa Open Call 2 Objectives

The call aims to strengthen the ability of food innovation stakeholders to:

Develop sustainable business concepts
Improve market readiness
Scale innovative food safety solutions
Build stronger entrepreneurial ecosystems
Promote social innovation
Increase collaboration between African and European food businesses

Selected innovation hubs will work with FS4Africa beneficiaries and use case partners to deliver specialised training and mentoring programmes.

Funding Details

Under the Open Call 2, FS4Africa will provide:

Total Open Call 2 Budget: €200,000
Number of selected projects: At least 5 projects
Maximum grant per project: €40,000

The funding will support organisations that can design and implement effective training and mentoring activities aligned with FS4Africa’s objectives.

Open Call 2 Proposal Should Propose the following activities:

Each Open Call 2 proposal must propose and implement a structured programme consisting of at least six (6) training–mentoring activities during the implementation period.

For the purposes of this Open Call, a “training–mentoring activity” is defined as a structured capacity-building intervention with clearly defined objectives, target beneficiaries, learning outcomes, delivery methodology, and follow-up actions.

Activities that consist solely of lectures without structured training – mentoring components, measurable outputs, or alignment with FS4Africa objectives will not be considered sufficient to fulfil the minimum activity requirements.

The required activities must include:

Α. Support to Open Call 1 (OC1) Beneficiaries
- Applicants must deliver at least two (2) training activities to support at least two (2) distinct Open Call 1 beneficiaries i.e. sub-projects (minimum two trainings in total, joint or dedicated sessions permitted).
- The two activities must involve at least two different OC1 sub-projects (i.e. not both activities mapped to the same OC1 beneficiary).
- The content should be tailored to the needs of the supported OC1 sub-projects and aligned with the relevant food safety challenges.
B. Support to FS4Africa Use Cases
- Applicants must deliver at least four (4) training–mentoring activities targeting actors involved in one or more FS4Africa Use Cases in collaboration with other OC2 projects.
- Following selection, Open Call 2 sub-projects will coordinate among themselves, with support from the FS4Africa Executive Board (WP Leaders) and the Open Call team, through structured information exchange and alignment meetings to ensure balanced thematic coverage across all four FS4Africa Use Cases.
- Collaboration among OC2 sub-projects implies structured coordination of thematic focus, training design, delivery schedules, or mentoring approaches to ensure complementarity, avoid duplication, and maximise collective coverage of FS4Africa Use Cases.

Eligibility Criteria for FoodSafety4Africa Open Call 2

The FS4Africa Open Call 2 is open to:

Innovation hubs
Entrepreneurship support organisations
Food innovation ecosystems
Organisations supporting start-ups and SMEs
Business acceleration platforms
Organisations with expertise in training, mentoring, and scaling innovation

Only one entity per proposal will be accepted. Consortium applications are not allowed under this call.

FoodSafety4Africa Open Call 2 Areas of Support

Successful applicants will support food entrepreneurs and innovators in areas including:

Developing Business Models
Innovation hubs will help beneficiaries strengthen:
- Value propositions
- Revenue models
- Financial sustainability strategies
- Market positioning
Supporting Social Innovation
Projects should promote:
- Community engagement
- Gender inclusion
- Local participation
- Inclusive food systems
Improving Market Access
Support may include:
- Master Coding Skills
- Regulatory awareness
- Connecting innovators with markets
- Strengthening ecosystem partnerships
- Preparing businesses for investment opportunities
Building Scaling Strategies
Applicants will assist beneficiaries in identifying:
- Replication opportunities
- Growth pathways
- Investment readiness strategies
- Long-term sustainability approaches

Implementation Timeline

The implementation period will be divided into 3 phases:

Phase 1: Design
- (Duration: 1 month / February 2027)
- Payment of 20% of the total grant
- [Deliverable: Training Activity plan]
Phase 2: Development
- (Duration: 5 months / March 2027 – July 2027)
- Payment of 50% of the total grant
- [Deliverable: Training Delivery Report]
Phase 3: Validation
- (2 months / August 2027 – September 2027)
- Payment of the final 30% of the total grant
- [Deliverable: Final Report of the training activities]