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I&P Acceleration in Sahel is an innovative program aimed at small businesses and start-ups in the Sahel and surrounding countries. The objective is to give these companies access to the financing and skills needed to foster their development, thus promoting the creation of decent and sustainable jobs in the region.
I&P Acceleration in Sahel: an overview
Deployed over four years, this ambitious program will benefit some 300 companies operating in 13 countries in the Sahel region: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Tchad, Togo and Senegal.
I&P Acceleration in Sahel will give project holders and entrepreneurs the tools and skills they need to develop and scale up their businesses.
A closer look at the program
I&P Acceleration in Sahel is deployed around three complementary components, aimed to accelerate the development of existing, but often informal, small businesses and to improve the success of new entrepreneurial projects:
Seed Financing
Technical Assistance
Strengthening the capacities of the companies and of the investment teams through or collective training and expert missions carried out by national and/or international experts
Supporting the ecosystem
Strengthening entrepreneurship business structures: these structures are essential to helping to combat the feeling of loneliness that young entrepreneurs may experience and to facilitate their preparation for fundraising and/or investment.
Program portfolio companies
The sponsor: the European Union
The European Union is financing the I&P Acceleration in Sahel program through the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), a financial instrument aimed at delivering a coordinated and rapid response to emergency situations related to instability, irregular migration and forced displacement and at providing sustainable solutions to migration management
Click here to read more on the EUTF
Implementing partners
The program is coordinated by I&P Entrepreneurs et Développement, a non-profit organization launched and managed by I&P, which aims to encourage and support entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa.
I&P Acceleration in Sahel is deployed locally by I&P teams specialized in financing, coaching, education and training as well as by 4 four I&P-sponsored management companies, partners, and capital investment funds dedicated to high-potential, local, small and medium-sized companies (SMEs): Sinergi in Niger, Sinergi Burkina in Burkina Faso, Teranga Capital in Senegal, and Comoé Capital in Côte d’Ivoire.
The team
Christian AMOUO
David Munnich
Djibo Ibrahima
Elena Haba
Fadyl Cissé
Fanja Raharinesy
Fatou Diop
Hugues Vincent-Genod
Hugues Vincent-Genod
Hugues joined I&P in 2011. He holds the position of Investment Director for the IPDEV2 program and I&P seed funding activities.
Issa Sidibé
Jessica Miessi
Mahamane Maharazou Sani Ango
Mahamane Maharazou Sani Ango
Maharazou joined the SINERGI NIGER team in 2020 as seed manager for the I&P Acceleration in the Sahel program in Niger.
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Marianne Vidal-Marin
Morgane Awu
Néné Diallo
Olivier Furdelle
Sandrine Pfister
Sophie Ménager
Sophie Ménager
Sophie joined I&P in 2014 and is now head of I&P Entrepreneurs et Développement, the association that carries I&P's acceleration projects.
Timothée OUOBA
Vivian Tchatchueng
Latest News
 Investisseurs & Partenaires, in partnership with the European Union, funds 28 start-ups in the Sahel regionNews | 05/01/2021 Officially launched in July 2020 with the support of the European Union, I&P Acceleration in Sahel program has funded in 6 months 28 growing small businesses in the Sahel sub-region. To boost the development of start-ups in the Sahel sub-region, the European Union is a... |
 I&P Acceleration in Sahel : Meet Siny Samba and Rémi Filasto, founders of the Senegalese company Le LionceauEntrepreneurs | 06/04/2021 Launched in July 2020, Le Lionceau was one of the first companies to benefit from I&P Acceleration in Sahel. As part of this ambitious program for young Sahelian companies, we met Siny Samba and Rémi Filasto, founders of this company that specializes in the production of baby food... |
 The European Union, in partnership with I&P, funds 28 start-ups in the Sahel regionNews | 30/03/2021 Officially launched in July 2020 (press release from 07/10/2020) with the support of the European Union, I&P Acceleration in Sahel program has funded in 6 months 28 growing small businesses in the Sahel sub-region. To boost the development of start-ups in the Sahel sub-region, the... |
 I&P Acceleration in Sahel: What response to the covid-19 crisis?Entrepreneurs | 30/11/2020 The covid-19 has shaken up our habits, our ways of thinking and acting, but also the activities of many men and women entrepreneurs. To deal with the economic impacts generated by this pandemic, I&P, through the I&P Acceleration in Sahel program, is providing additional... |
 I&P Acceleration Program in Sahel: I&P and Teranga Capital complete first three seed financingsNews | 11/08/2020 Launched last July, the I&P Acceleration in Sahel program is carrying out the first three seed financings in Senegal, for an average amount of 30 million FCFA. This is an important step for this ambitious programme financed by the European Union, which aims to... |