Support
The vision and mission
Creativity
Job creation
Gender equality
Ecology
The vision of Creative Africa is centered on the ability of individuals to exploit their creativity to drive change. The Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) constitute a considerable economic lever. This area mainly concerns small or medium-sized businesses, whose impact on local development is significant. The creative field is one of the preferred paths for the economic and ecological diversification that modern and globalized economies absolutely need.
It is for these reasons that Afrique Créative is part of an approach to supporting cultural and creative entrepreneurship.
Our mission is to identify cultural and creative entrepreneurs with high potential and to support, strengthen and network them in order to accelerate the development of their organizations.
The Creative Africa program will include:
- Technical support, both in terms of strengthening entrepreneurial capacities and coaching on a creative and cultural level;
- Financial support to accelerate the development of the company and consolidate its economic model.
Pre-incubation
E-learning
Mentoring
Pitch Jury
- 30 entrepreneurs (1 to 3 per country) are selected through a call for applications .
- They are accompanied by local incubators, at least ½ day per week.
- The objective is in particular to get them to:
- (Re)structure their economic models
- Establish their scaling strategy and define their acceleration objectives
- Rework their acceleration project and the budget breakdown submitted to Afrique Créative for the granting of funding
- Work on financial projections related to this acceleration project
- Prepare to pitch their acceleration project to the final jury
- They benefit from training in e-learning, common to the entire cohort on various subjects. These e-learning sessions complement the support provided by the incubators. They are an opportunity for entrepreneurs to meet and exchange virtually.
- After sending their final acceleration projects and their pitch decks, they pitch their projects in front of a jury made up of cultural actors, institutions and investors. This jury selects the 15 best projects who will participate in the incubation and acceleration phases.
Incubation
E-learning
Bootcamp
Mentoring
Mobility and network
Fundraising
- At the end of the preincubation phase, 15 entrepreneurs are selected on the basis of a pitch, by a jury composed of cultural actors, investors, and institutions.
- They are accompanied by local incubators who supported them during the pre-incubation phase. Together, they work on management and business aspects in order to better structure their business, at least ½ day per week.
- Entrepreneurs participate in a online bootcamp focused on entrepreneurial structuring and consolidation of their economic model. This bootcamp brings together the entire cohort and creates a sense of community.
- They benefit from training in e-learning, common to the entire cohort, which complement the support provided by the incubators. These sessions are an opportunity to bring together virtually all entrepreneurs on a regular basis.
- They are coached individually by a creative mentor, a renowned professional in their field who will support them on the cultural and creative aspects of their organization throughout the program.
- They win a grant funding between €30,000 and €60,000 per company to finance their acceleration project.
Acceleration
E-learning
Bootcamp
Mentoring
Fundraising
- Following the incubation, the 15 entrepreneurs participate in the acceleration phase.
- They participate in a boot camp face-to-face, focused on scaling up and preparing for fundraising. These workshops allow entrepreneurs to meet and take part in interactive workshops during which everyone will actively participate in increasing the skills of the community.
- They are accompanied by an investor operating on the African continent, which specifically supports them in their preparation for fundraising (financial projections, valuation, etc.)
- They continue to benefit from tailor-made coaching from their creative mentor
- As well as training sessions in e-learning
- They finalize the implementation of their action plan thanks to the funding granted during the incubation phase.
Financial support
30,000 to
€60,000 Innovation and
profitability
- Each of the 15 selected entrepreneurs benefits from a funding in the form of a grant between €30,000 and €60,000.
- The amount is determined by the entrepreneur based on his acceleration project.
- A fixed amount of this budget is allocated to payment of the incubator (10,000 euros).
- The equivalent of 1/3 of the budget must be provided by the entrepreneur in equity during the program (for example, through the financing of human resources, rent, communications, etc.). For example, for an acceleration project budgeted at 70,000 euros, Afrique Créative can provide a maximum of 46,700 euros and the entrepreneur will have to contribute up to 23,300 euros.
- THE disbursements are conditional : it is necessary to validate certain steps during the support to receive each tranche of funding.
- The financing aims to accelerate the development of the company by consolidating its economic model (for example: starting a new activity, a new product/service, innovating processes, etc.).
- Examples of actions to include in the acceleration project (non-exhaustive list):
- Prototyping a new product or service;
- Recruitment of qualified personnel to increase company productivity;
- Staff training program
- Acquisition of equipment that will save time
- Innovative activities to integrate the digital dimension into the economic model;
- Marketing actions to promote the company's products or services and increase its sales;
- Communication activities and graphics to improve the company's brand image;
- Legal and/or tax benefits with a view to professionalizing the functioning of the organization;
- Etc.
- Types of acceleration projects that will not be eligible for funding
- Events of a religious or political nature.
- Pre-existing one-off unprofitable projects (e.g. festivals).
- The applicant's operating costs (only project-related costs are eligible).
- Debts and obligations.
- Projects mainly consist of covering investment expenses in terms of infrastructure, land and equipment.
- Projects intended solely to promote the visibility of the project manager.
