It’s a new year, but another year full of unknowns, pandemics, and thus challenges for scheduling startup accelerators. In 2021 most of the Fledge programs were shelved, with Start.coop and The Land Accelerator running multiple virtual programs and The Land Accelerator Africa finishing up its program in person in Nairobi in November. Those two programs will run again in 2022. Hopefully the...
One of the most common problems faced by the fledglings is large, unexpected orders by customers. How is that a problem? Big customers don’t pay upon ordering, nor upon delivery, but typically 30 or 45 or 60 days after delivery (a.k.a. Net-30, Net-45, or Net-60). It thus takes money to make money, as young companies can’t typically pay the same Net-30/45/60 to their vendors. The...
Crowdfunding is now working at scale… and at the moment there are three campaigns underway for fledglings, including one that covers 27 African fledglings.
wefunder.com/arqlite
wefunder.com/shift.labs
wefunder.com/africaeats
There are so many incredible stories to share at Africa Eats, the investment holding company spun out of Fledge in 2020. Here is a sampling of the type of solutions we’ve invested in. Homegrown, for-profit solutions with measurable impacts lessening hunger and poverty across Africa.
For more stories, listen to The Opportunity is Africa, a podcast brought to you by Africa Eats
With the pandemic all of the Fledge accelerator programs moved online. To take advance of that format, The Land Accelerator Africa invited nearly 100 companies to participate this year, rather than just 12-15 as in years past. Specifically, we invited 100 companies out of the 1,387 who applied to participate in a 12 week virtual accelerator, each receiving a $5,000 non-dilutive grant if only they...
Some entrepreneurs stand out, clearly destined to turn their vision in reality. Some entrepreneurs succeed despite the myriad of unjust hurdles of world puts in front of them. Hurdles like being born a women. A black woman. In Africa. In one of the many countries no one outside that country cares about. Start off any entrepreneur in those circumstances and 99 out of 100 will end up no better off...
A decade ago The Business Model Canvas made assumptions about business models visible. Today The Ownership Model Canvas does the same for ownership and governance. Unsurprisingly it is Start.coop that brings this tool to the world. Start.coop is the world’s first business accelerator focused on scalable cooperative companies. They have from the start questioned the common ways of doing business...
Arqlite proved out its technology and supply chains in Argentina and is now operating the first full-scale commercial facility in Los Angeles, California, USA.
And with this, you can now buy Arqlite on Amazon and Walmart, with more retailers coming soon.
arqlite.com
Yusuf is in Kenya, learning how the cookstove market works in the neighboring country.
A great example of how doing good and doing well can be both fun and rewarding.
Rwanda has one of the fast growing economies of the world and as more and more Rwandans leave poverty and enter the middle class, their demand for protein, especially meat, growth even faster. The same demand was seen over a century ago when Europe grew itself out of poverty and replicated again in Asia over the last few decades. This is the trend that led Herve Tuyishime to start Paniel Meat...