August 2021 

We are excited to bring you a host of updates and new offerings from the ANDE West Africa Chapter. Through this newsletter, we provide updates from our network, including sector opportunities, news, events and publications. We would always be happy to amplify your communication and impact by featuring your work on our growing LinkedIn and Twitter platforms. You can reach out to us for the same through this form or via email.

RECAP: 2021 ANDE West Africa Regional Conference
Last month, about 140 ANDE members and partners gathered for the 2021 West Africa Regional Conference with sessions in English and French focusing on Climate and Environmental Action, Gender Equality and Decent Work and Economic Growth. Thanks to an incredible team effort, our amazing sponsors, and the continued dedication of our members, we consider the first virtual West Africa Regional Conference a success! Watch the recap.

Capacity Development Workshop Sessions | ANDE West Africa/ACT Foundation
Last year, with support from the ACT Foundation, ANDE West Africa ran a series of virtual workshops addressing urgent challenges and issues related to the entrepreneurial ecosystem spanning from best fundraising practices for development organizations to innovative deal structuring in times of crisis and a whole lot more. With continued support from ACT Foundation, we will build on our 2020 workshop series and focus on delivering targeted services to the SGB sector while creating stronger collaboration, delivering capacity development and connecting the organizations to relevant resources. Learn more.

Upcoming ANDE Events

Scaling Acceleration and Business Development Services Workshop
September 8, 2021 | 12:00 PM WAT | 1:00 PM SAST | 2:00 PM EAT
The ANDE West Africa Chapter, with support from Aspire Coronation Trust (ACT) Foundation, cordially invites intermediary organizations to a workshop on 'Scaling Acceleration and Business Development Services'. This workshop is part of our Capacity Development Workshop Series, which focuses on delivering targeted services to the SGB sector while creating more vital collaborations, delivering capacity development, and connecting organizations to relevant resources. Register now.

Workshop Session - Building Compliance for Better Business Opportunities
September 14th & 15th, 2021 | 9:00 AM WAT
The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), West Africa, in collaboration with the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), invites you to attend the Ethics 1st virtual workshop sessions in French (Day 1) & English (Day 2). Ethics 1st aims to restore trust in the African small and growing business community, thereby increasing the rate of investment flow to the SGBs in the region. Register now.

ANDE Annual Conference
September 28 - 30, 2021
Have you registered for our flagship Annual Conference yet? As always, the agenda will be highly interactive and feature workshops, showcase presentations, speed networking, and more. Any number of colleagues from ANDE member organizations are welcome to attend. Members should log into the website to register or request a login. Please contact us if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you!

ANDE Opportunities

ANDE's Gender-Smart Capacity Development Provider Directory
ANDE is assembling a gender-smart capacity builder directory to catalogue institutions and individuals that help entrepreneurs or the investors, accelerators, and incubators that support them strengthen internal or external gender practices, theses, and strategies. To be considered for the directory, please complete this form.

ANDE Career Opportunities

Operations Coordinator| ANDE East Africa
Senior Talent Associate | Washington DC
Latin America Finance Coordinator | Mexico City

Member Highlight

State of Entrepreneurship Survey | FATE Foundation
FATE Foundation has designed a survey to get feedback on the state of entrepreneurship in Nigeria as part of the development of the annual FATE Foundation research report to influence policy design and implementation around entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Stakeholders in the Nigerian entrepreneurial ecosystem snapshot, including support organizations, startups, Small and Growing Businesses (SGBs), please share your feedback. Data provided will be treated with the utmost confidentiality.

Sector Events

5th Breakfast Dialogue | ACT Foundation
September 14 - 15, 2021
The Aspire Coronation Trust (ACT) Foundation Breakfast Dialogue is a convergence of various Public, Private, and Social Sector leaders to have insightful conversations on global social issues with the aim of exploring solutions that will propel social transformation, and create impact in communities. This year's session will focus on "Reimagining the Future of Development" and seeks to inspire leaders from wherever they may sit (marketplace, boardrooms, government schools, etc.) to rethink current norms or processes and strive to create better solutions. Register now.

Global Impact Summit 2021 | Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) 
October 6 – 8, 2021
Members can contact Kristen Lamke for a 10% discount on registration.
Join colleagues from across the impact movement over three days to work on measures for a just economic recovery and a fairer future for people and the planet. The Summit will explore the best impact initiatives and real-world examples, sharing practical tools and solutions to empower and inspire. Register now.

Sankalp Global Summit | Sankalp Forum 
October 12 - 14, 2021 
Register now for the 13th Edition of the Sankalp Global Summit - a chance to collaborate with a global community comprising thousands of stakeholders from every segment of the development ecosystem.

SOCAP21 Virtual | SOCAP Global
October 18 - 21, 2021
Members can get 20% off your purchase of a SOCAP21 pass by contacting Kristen Lamke.
In planning SOCAP21, the SOCAP team selected broad themes with the intention to include more voices and perspectives in every conversation to broaden the perspectives at the table and has invited the SOCAP community to submit content ideas. Let SOCAP know what you'd like to discuss by voting for your favourite session ideas and vote for ANDE's submission on Climate Metrics for SGBs.

Impact!Africa Social Entrepreneurship Summit - Virtual Edition | British Council/Ashoka
Ongoing through October 2021
The Impact!Africa Social Entrepreneurship Summit is an annual event held across Africa targeted at the social entrepreneurship ecosystem. The summit is a partnership by the British Council and Ashoka to accelerate innovative solutions to Africa’s most pressing challenges by inspiring, supporting and connecting leading social entrepreneurs and key ecosystem players across countries, organizations and sectors such as policy, social investment, business and media. Register for sessions.

Sector Opportunities

F.M. Kirby Impact Prize | The Duke University's Fuqua School of Business
Deadline: August 20, 2021
The Fred Morgan Kirby Prize for Scaling Social Impact (F. M. Kirby Impact Prize) is an annual global prize of $100,000 (USD) in unrestricted funds that amplifies and accelerates the work of enterprises working to scale their impact on social or environmental problems around the world. Apply now.

Social Innovators Programme 2021/22 Fellowship | LEAP Africa
Extended Deadline: August 22, 2021
The Social Innovators Programme (SIP) is a one-year fellowship for young Anglophone African changemakers between 18-35 years from Nigeria, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ghana, Anglo-Cameroon. Apply now.

Consultants for the ICCO STARS Case Study | AMEA
Deadline: August 27, 2021
Agribusiness Market Ecosystem Alliance (AMEA) is looking for a consultant to deliver a high-quality case study in the coming months. They seek to answer key questions posed by the Access to Finance Working Group about how targeted technical assistance and capacity building for farmer organizations enables farmers to build financial track records and access finance. More information in the Terms of Reference.  

RISE Fellowship | RISE by Sundara
Deadline: August 31, 2021
RISE by Sundara, an NGO dedicated to supporting female entrepreneurs who are developing sustainable solutions to water, sanitation and hygiene issues in their local communities and empowering women in the process, is looking for its next cohort of fellows - female social entrepreneurs working in water, sanitation and hygiene. Each RISE fellow receives seed funding (between $1000 and $5000 per year), a year of mentorship and business training from experts and coaches. Apply now.

4 Revs Innovation Challenge | Socialab/NELIS
Deadline: September 8, 2021 
The 4 Revs Innovation Challenge is a global call to identify innovative and scalable solutions from all corners of the world that are already in the market and contribute to at least one of the 4 fundamental survival challenges (Food, Water, Resources, & Energy). The winners of this call will participate in a business round with global companies such as  Salesforce, Toshiba, Panasonic, Epson, Kao, Toyota Tsusho, Mitsubishi, Lion and more. They will also have a one-on-one work session with three investment funds: Village Capital, Yunus SB and NEsST to determine their investment readiness. Apply now.

Justice Entrepreneurship School (JES) | FATE Foundation/ Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL)
The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL), in partnership with FATE Foundation, has launched the call for application for the Justice Entrepreneurship School (JES) - a programme targeted at entrepreneurs within West Africa in the incubation stage of business and with innovative ideas about businesses within the justice sector of economies. Apply now.

Tailored Support Session on Branding, Marketing and Storytelling | British Council/Ashoka
Impact Africa tailored support sessions are web-based clinics designed to give professional coaching support and advisory to the selected young impact and social entrepreneurs. Submit your applications today and benefit from this unique experience. This session will provide tailored support to impact and social entrepreneurs on how to develop a business model Canvas to visualize the most important aspects of their business and make it more accessible, and to understand important business relationships and organizational innovation. Apply now.

Talent to Transform Africa (TTA) | Open Capital
Talent to Transform Africa (TTA) by Open Capital's Arcadia practice provides subsidized embedded talent support to locally founded African small and growing businesses under $2M in annual revenues and total capital raised to date. Open Capital's Arcadia practice embeds high-capacity Analysts to work full-time with businesses for 3-6 months to address critical business needs, solve problems, build systems, and provide analytical and executional capacity to catalyze growth. Interested businesses should apply now.

Sector Resources

SME Competitiveness Outlook 2021: Empowering the Green Recovery | International Trade Center
The SME Competitiveness Outlook 2021 analyses how small businesses can rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic, so they are prepared to face the looming climate crisis. It provides a 20-point Green Recovery Plan to foster competitive, resilient and environmentally sustainable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Read the report.

Institutional Asset Owners: Approaches to Setting Social and Environmental Goals | Global Impact Investing Network
This report dives into investors' approaches to setting impact priorities and targets - unpacking challenges they face when assessing impact priorities, identifying ways of turning these challenges into opportunities to achieve more significant impact, and outlining next steps investors can take to set targets and integrate social and environmental priorities into their investment processes. Read the report.

Finding Product-Market Fit And Improving Operations During COVID-19 | coLABS/Catalyst Fund
Gray Matters Capital's coLABS Initiative & Catalyst Fund, with contributions from select portfolio companies, have launched a Guide on "Finding product-market fit and improving operations during COVID'19". Through case studies on companies from both coLABS and Catalyst Fund portfolios, this report shares learnings on how businesses, in light of the pandemic, can leverage technology for remote product development, digital sales & distribution, and contactless service provision, even in the earliest stages of product-market fit.  Download the guide.

Sector Career Opportunities

Investment Associate | VestedWorld 
Nutrition Training Consultant | Olam/GAIN 
Global M&E and Operations Manager | ​Amani Institute