Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday the provision by the French Development Agency (AFD) of an envelope of 65 million euros to participate in the financing of African startups, at the opening of the Vivatech technology show.
“The AFD will deploy in the coming weeks a specific instrument endowed with 65 million euros (…) which will be intended to fill the gaps of support by small tickets, which are the ones these startups need, 30 to 50,000 euros, “said the French president, in the presence of Paul Kagame, the head of the Rwandan state, invited to the show.
This third edition of Vivatech puts Africa in the spotlight, a continent where startups are expanding, in the field of mobile telephony or financial services in particular.
Emmanuel Macron expressed his wish that France “take its part in financing the development of African ecosystems”.
“African startups have the energy, but the big donors of development aid and the financiers have not adapted to that, we ourselves are too slow, too hesitant,” he said.
The AFD fund will support start-up projects that will be selected on a platform called “Digital Africa”.
In November, the contest “Digital Africa”, sponsored by the French Development Agency, Bpifrance and French Tech, awarded Abidjan young companies specialized in innovation for sustainable development.
“To all the entrepreneurs of Africa: you see it in the presence of President Kagame and mine, there is no longer an Anglophone Africa and a Francophone Africa that should have two strategies, there should be an African strategy”, said Emmanuel Macron.
“I call on all African entrepreneurs from all countries of the continent to join this initiative ” Digital Africa ” and join the platform. ”
The French president also said that AFD would subsequently propose to other donors, including private donors, to participate in “tenfold this initiative.
The Express News
