Fledge is a global network of conscious company accelerators and investment funds, helping entrepreneurs create impactful companies and co-ops at scale through intense, short programs filled with education, guidance, and a massive amount of mentorship.
Each city runs (up to) one session per year. Each city’s program is a bit different from the others’, but all are focused on mission-driven for-profit companies, and all invest in their fledglings.
Th educational curriculum is based on The Next Step books and online classes, taught to fill in any gaps in the key skills entrepreneurs need to know to succeed: strategy, financials, marketing, sales, funding, etc.
All our cities share a global network of hundreds of mentors, who share their experiences, advice, and connections in 1-on-1 meetings with participants.
Every day, week after week, we push the participants forward, iterating business strategy, financial models, marketing and sales plans, funding options, and investor and sales pitches, plus we put a special focus on storytelling. The result is intense and creates lasting value for years after the companies return home.
We have been refining this service since 2012 and, to date, have helped hundreds of companies from dozens of countries. We’re eager for more. Our goal is to help foster a wave of companies that make a measurable impact in the world, collectively improving the lives of everyone on the planet.
We invest $15,000 (Peru), €15,000 (Europe), or $20,000 (U.S.) into each company we invite to participate, using revenue-based equity, which aligns our interests with the founders, avoids any pressure to “sell out”, and lets us invest in just about any market segment and most any country in the world. Plus, we make introductions to impact investors and make follow-on investments from our family of seed funds.
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...