The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), have called upon African-based MSMEs to submit proposals for digital solutions that support green infrastructure and/or trade.
The Call for MSME-led Digital Solutions is a private sector support programme within the Division for Economic Integration of AUDA-NEPAD, supported by the GIZ Project Green Infrastructure Corridors for intra-African Trade (Support to PIDA). It seeks to provide business development advisory to MSMEs in the green infrastructure and trade domains.
This is part of AUDA-NEPAD’s umbrella programme 100 000 MSMEs Initiative, which seeks to support MSMEs throughout Africa with training in entrepreneurial and business skills, while establishing networks for support and incubation to bolster their success.
The main purpose of this support programme is to empower MSMEs by helping them develop sustainable businesses through tailored technical assistance. All applicants will have the opportunity to go through various levels of learning, pending the progression of their application. No direct funding is granted through this programme, but MSME leaders are capacitated to develop a more holistic view of their business’s financial trajectory to better understand how to access and mobilise funding themselves. A focus is also placed on how MSME can digitise themselves as an enterprise or their specific solution.
The selected MSMEs will work closely with the GIZ and AUDA-NEPAD Team to design and deliver a customised technical assistance programme, which will be carried out in 2023 to support specific growth needs across three key areas, namely: investment readiness support, business-specific advisory and capacity building.
The technical support will take place over a period of between 3 to 12 months, depending on each of the selected MSME’s individual requirements.
In its previous call for proposals, AUDA-NEPAD received over 60 applications, from which four MSMEs were selected, some of which were able to mobilise financial support through our support process. This year, we are aiming to support up to 10 MSMEs.
For their applications to be considered, the MSMEs will have to meet the following criteria:
Be at least an early-stage business (mature MSMEs are welcome to apply)
Be an African business
The MSME must have a digital/tech-based business idea (“digital solution”)
The digital solution must focus on trade and/or green infrastructure
Details of the above are available on our website. Apply here.
