In 2020, Sahara Group Foundation launched the Sahara Impact Fund (SIF) Fellowship programme, through a strategic partnership between Sahara Group Foundation, LEAP Africa, and Impact Investment Foundation.
The Sahara Impact Fund (SIF) is designed to empower young African changemakers, innovators, inventors, and entrepreneurs with the right support, a growth-oriented mindset, and the necessary tools to establish and scale sustainable businesses, all geared towards attaining the SDGs in a manner that results in measurable social impact.
The primary purpose of the SIF programme is to encourage and support the generation of ideas and solutions which will help to increase the Sahara Group Foundation’s mandate of Building Sustainable Communities and mobilise the right support for tangible partnerships towards achieving the SDGs in a way that results in measurable social impact.
Through this transformative initiative, SIF is equipping participants with the skills, tools, and networks needed to scale their impact-driven and sustainable businesses.
The Sahara Impact Fund (SIF) is a hybrid accelerator program that identifies, equips, and positions African social enterprises for investment readiness, grant funding, and long-term sustainability. Designed to scale innovative solutions to pressing community challenges, the program blends strategic grant capital, tailored mentorship, and business advisory support, bridging the gap between impactful innovation and sustainable funding opportunities.
The SIF project was created with a vision to support young people by providing an enabling environment for the development of self-sustaining businesses, with a focus on wealth creation and preservation. This is achieved through the support of a strong network of committed stakeholders. The program offers a comprehensive ecosystem of subject matter experts who guide participants through the foundational elements of building a successful enterprise. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to access funding from a pool of $200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand Dollars), following a rigorous shortlisting and evaluation process conducted by the Sahara Group Foundation Jury.
The 3rd cohort of the programme gave grants of $5,000 each to ten (10) outstanding Fellows at the end of the six-month programme. Including incremental funding access based on impact, reach, and sustainability matrices targeted at supporting young social entrepreneurs in Africa.
Now advancing into its fourth cohort, the program provides outstanding Fellows with seed funding of up to $30,000upon successful completion of the intensive three-month fellowship following critically mapped milestones.
These milestones aligned with clearly defined impact, scalability, and sustainability metrics – reinforcing the program’s commitment to fostering a robust pipeline of high-impact social entrepreneurs across the African continent.
Selection Criteria
Underlisted are the elements to be considered before a solution is selected:
Relevance
What problem does the solution address, who is affected, and how urgent is it? What are the broader impacts on people and the environment, and what are the risks of not acting now?
Innovation
Is the solution a novel (never seen before) and an extraordinary idea or is it an improvement on an existing solution? If it is an improvement on an existing solution, what is unique to this solution?
Impact
How wide and deep will the impact of this solution be?
Scalable
How scalable is the solution? Is there a ready market for it? Is it easily replicable in other climes?
Profitability
Is the solution commercially viable and profitable?
Benefits
Sahara Group Foundation’s tailored value proposition will offer beneficiaries:
Grant of up to $30,000.
Go-to-market support.
Legal Support (intellectual property, patenting, etc).
Business Advisory.
Brand Management Support.
The objective is to provide all of the above, which is worth over $100,000,000 to ensure the selected innovators, researchers, inventors, and entrepreneurs build their ideas or solutions into successful businesses that will grow, scale, and thrive.
