Village Capital recently kicked off its first accelerator-for-accelerators program in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, supporting 12 regional organizations and driving effective support for local entrepreneurs.
Village Capital recently kicked off its first accelerator-for-accelerators program in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, supporting 12 regional organizations and driving effective support for local entrepreneurs.
Supported by the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF), the MENA Ecosystem Builders program aims to improve the strategy, sustainability, and impact of locally-led Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs).
“Village Capital has been running ESO Accelerators since 2016 across Africa, Latin America, and the United States,” shares Alicia Sornson, Village Capital’s MENA Region Lead. “We understand the invaluable role that locally-led ESOs (accelerators, incubators, seed funds, among others) provide to their ecosystems. With their deep local network and profound understanding of local challenges, they are often the first point of support for lived-experience entrepreneurs solving real-world problems who sit in investor blind spots. Through this program, we hope to amplify our existing ecosystem building efforts by equipping the ESOs with the tools and resources they need to develop sustainable organizations that offer meaningful interventions for entrepreneurs in this region.”
Village Capital will offer specialized training sessions that will allow ESOs to track their development against several milestones, including “Team,” “Programs and Services,” and “Business Models,” and enable them to evaluate their organization from the perspective of potential funders to identify a clear pathway to financial sustainability and impact.
Meet the 12 Entrepreneur Support Organizations selected from a pool of 200 applicants from five countries.
All selected startups will be invited to join Abaca, Village Capital’s online global network that helps entrepreneurs articulate their readiness for investment or their next big expansion. The network provides a diagnostic tool and matches them with relevant investors and resources.
For more information, contact Eva Waweru at Village Capital (eva.waweru@vilcap.com).
About Village Capital
Village Capital is reinventing the system to back the entrepreneurs of the future. Known for its groundbreaking approaches to supporting founders who are building solutions to emergent social, economic, and environmental challenges, VilCap unlocks critical social and financial capital for early-stage companies to maximize business and impact growth.
Village Capital has operated in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) since 2018 by running over 6 accelerator programs. Vilcap has supported more than 70 locally-based startups working in data tech, financial health, green tech, and health equity sectors. Learn more at www.vilcap.com and follow @villagecapital.
About DGGF
The Dutch Good Growth Fund is a “fund of fund” investment initiative from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched in 2014 with the aim to improve financing for the “missing middle” – i.e. entrepreneurs who have outgrown microfinance but do not have access to conventional capital markets – in 70+ countries. The Seed Capital and Business Development (SC&BD) program was established to further the impact of the DGGF by providing Seed Capital, Technical Assistance, and Business Development Services to local financial service providers and entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs). In addition, the program incorporates a knowledge development and sharing component that supports research, tests assumptions, and shares insights on financing SMEs in developing countries and emerging markets - fostering industry-wide knowledge exchange.
