Applications are now open for an Inclusive Enterprise Accelerator designed to strengthen women-owned, youth-led, and disability-focused small and medium-sized enterprises across Africa. The programme responds to a critical gap in Africa’s capital ecosystem, where high-potential inclusive businesses remain underrepresented in formal investment markets despite their proven ability to drive job creation, innovation, and inclusive economic growth.
This accelerator is positioned to bridge the disconnect between impact investors seeking bankable, impact-aligned opportunities and enterprises that require structured support to become investment-ready. By strengthening enterprise systems, refining business models, and facilitating direct investor engagement, the programme aims to unlock sustainable capital while preparing participating SMEs for expansion within the African Continental Free Trade Area, a single market of 1.4 billion people valued at US$3.4 trillion.
Programme Objectives
The accelerator is designed to operationalise Gender Equity and Social Inclusion as a practical business and investment tool, rather than a theoretical framework. It supports enterprises to integrate gender and inclusion principles into governance, strategy, and decision-making while strengthening overall investment readiness.
The programme also promotes the adoption of Gender Lens Investing principles, improves enterprise systems and governance structures, embeds sustainability and continuous improvement practices, and supports long-term revenue growth, resilience, and job creation. A key outcome is facilitating investor connections, deal flow, and matchmaking to unlock equity, debt, and grant funding opportunities.
Programme Structure
The accelerator will be implemented in three structured phases. The first phase focuses on business clinics and diagnostics to assess enterprise readiness and identify growth gaps. The second phase provides targeted coaching and technical support to strengthen systems, documentation, governance, and scalability. The final phase centres on onboarding enterprises onto an impact platform and facilitating deal matching with aligned investors and capital providers.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must be registered and commercially viable SMEs operating in Africa.
Businesses must demonstrate active revenue generation and show clear potential for scalability alongside measurable social and or environmental impact.
Eligible enterprises should demonstrate commitment to learning, continuous improvement, and adaptation, and must be actively seeking impact capital, equity, debt, or grant funding to scale within the next 12 months.
Why This Matters
Women, youth, and disability-focused enterprises remain among the most underfunded segments of Africa’s MSME ecosystem, even though MSMEs account for over 90 percent of businesses, 63 percent of employment, and approximately 50 percent of GDP across the continent. By strengthening deal readiness and connecting enterprises to capital, this accelerator contributes to inclusive growth, stronger investment pipelines, and sustainable economic transformation.
