English
FrançaisI&P Acceleration in Sahel
Our work > Funds and Programs > I&P Acceleration > I&P Acceleration in Sahel
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 gives 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.
Target companies
The I&P Acceleration in Sahel program targets start-ups and small businesses meeting the following criteria:
⇒ Managed by men and women of African nationality or permanently settled in Africa, dedicated full-time to their business and wishing to collaborate with a group of investors.
⇒ Operating in the formal economy (legal structure recognized and registered in one of the 13 countries of intervention) or in the process of formalization.
⇒ Committed to maximizing their impacts (social and/or environmental) through their business activities and/or improving their practices.
⇒ Particular attention is paid to projects led by vulnerable populations (young people, women, populations in disaster-stricken and/or landlocked regions), and/or companies operating in the education and professional insertion sectors.
For more information on the I&P Acceleration in Sahel program, we invite you to download the brochure of the program.
To submit your application, you can visit the dedicated page on I&P's website or visit the website of I&P's African partner funds.
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
Fadyl Cissé
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.
...
Marianne Vidal-Marin
Morgane Awu
Néné Diallo
Olivier Bokoga
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
 I&P publishes its second global impact reportNews | 20/12/2021 Investisseurs & Partenaires publishes the second edition of its annual impact report, a summary of our impact mission and the most significant achievements and progress made in 2021. In a time period strongly marked by the Covid-19 crisis, I&P's teams have grown stronger, new... |
 I&P Acceleration in Sahel: the program is deployed in six new countries in the Sahel sub-regionNews | 16/12/2021Launched in 2020 with the support of the European Union, I&P Acceleration in Sahel is developing its activities in six countries of the Sahel sub-region: Benin, Togo, Ghana, Guinea, Mauritania and Chad. Back to the video presentation of the program ... |
 I&P's quaterly newsletter, with an editorial signed by Mariam Djibo of Advans Côte d'IvoireNews | 04/11/2021The newsletter of the last quarter of 2021 is online! In this issue are notably included: • An editorial signed by Mariam Djibo, Director of Advans Côte d'Ivoire (below) • A review of the first regional workshop dedicated to train incubators in West Africa, organized by the program I&P... |
 I&P Acceleration in Sahel: a review of the regional training workshop for the first cohort of entrepreneurship support structuresNews | 04/11/2021 As part of the I&P Acceleration in Sahel program, sponsored by the European Union, I&P gathered in Dakar (Senegal) the first cohort of entrepreneurship support structures (incubators, accelerators, start-up studios...) for a first regional training workshop. 20 participants (2... |
 The IPDEV 2 fund impact report for the year 2020 is online!News | 02/08/2021 Since 2002, I&P has developed the program IPDEV 2 in order to finance small businesses and build a network of local funds in sub-Saharan African countries. I&P Développement 2 (IPDEV 2) aims to create 10 local investment funds and to finance 500 SMEs in 10 countries in 10 years.... |