Boost Africa

About Boost Africa

Boost Africa is a joint initiative of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), with financial support of the European Commission and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States Secretariat (OACPS) under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF).

Driving private sector growth is a shared priority of the EIB, the AfDB, the European Union and the OACPS for Africa. Boost Africa represents a new way to do that, supporting creation of decent jobs, sustainable growth and poverty alleviation and to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Context

Africa has some of the world's fastest-growing economies and a young, fast-growing population. However, a consistent trend in young graduates leaving or failing to return home from abroad at the end of their studies is an increasing threat for the continent’s social and economic progress.

Boost Africa addresses this by creating opportunities for young women and men in Africa.

Boost Africa stems from the belief that we can improve living standards and social progress in Africa by supporting entrepreneurship and innovation. Boost Africa will support affordable solutions for the poorest populations, from access to energy and healthcare to financial services, education and internet connectivity. Supporting start-ups will also mean sustaining the democratisation of the economy, creating opportunities for all.

Goals

Boost Africa enables African companies to become globally competitive.

Boost entrepreneurship and innovation across the continent

Create new and quality jobs

Develop an efficient entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa

Address financing gaps at the earliest and riskiest stages of business creation

Develop young entrepreneurs’ skills and expertise

Boosting the entrepreneurial power of Africa’s young people will:

create innovative and compelling modern businesses
increase the capacity for these businesses to compete regionally and globally
attract both domestic and foreign investment and diversify investor profile
contribute significantly to job creation and economic growth

What sectors are targeted?

The focus will be on sectors where innovations, especially in the digital sphere, can improve the quality of people’s lives, in particular for poorer households, providing access to affordable products and services. These sectors include, but are not limited to:

ICT
agribusiness
financial services and financial inclusion
health
education
renewable energy

There will be a particular emphasis on youth and women as final beneficiaries.

What are the components?

Investment programme

The Investment programme will span the whole venture segment, including seed funds, incubators, accelerators, follow-on funds, business angels funds, equity-crowd platforms, and venture capital funds to support the creation of innovative and highly scalable start-ups and small and medium companies.

It will focus on all of those ecosystem builders that are able to generate first-rate opportunities in terms of quality, creativity, impact and innovation.

The programme is structured as a co-investment partnership between EIB and the African Development Bank (AfDB), who will each commit up to €70 million and €50 million respectively in senior tranche investments. The programme is further enhanced by €50 million in junior tranche investments, provided by the European Commission and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States Secretariat under the 11th European Development Fund. The EIB and AfDB are in charge of the deployment of the €50 million junior tranche investments.
Third party investors from the public and the private sectors will be invited to co-invest, with the ultimate aim to mobilise a combined amount of €300 million.

Deploying a blended finance approach, the programme expects to build a portfolio of 8 to 10 funds over a 2-4 year period.

Through this integrated approach, Boost Africa will both provide financial capital and develop skills and expertise, helping fund managers and entrepreneurs to effectively deal with the many obstacles that arise when building new funds and companies.

Development impact

The overall target size across the various components of the initiative is expected to be around €190 million , leveraging €300 million in investments, supporting over 200 small and medium companies and creating 3 300 direct jobs and at least 9 900 indirect jobs.

Technical Assistance Pool

The Technical Assistance Pool (sustained by the EU and OACPS with € 4 million), managed by the EIB, provides capacity building and disseminates best practices for:

investment readiness of intermediaries, especially first time local fund managers
business and technical training of investee companies/entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship Lab

The ELab, managed by the AfDB and sustained by the EU and OACPS with € 4.7 million, will act as a catalyst for innovation, knowledge, and partnerships by incubating and piloting promising new ideas. It will also assess and disseminate best practices and provide support to business and sectoral ecosystems at country level.

Still got questions? Please visit the Q&A page.

How to get support as a fund

If you are a fund manager, please contact us to participate to the Boost Africa Initiative.