Since 2012, African Entrepreneur Collective has worked with nearly 200 entrepreneurs in Rwanda, providing them with training, mentorship, technical assistance and direct financing. To date, our entrepreneurs have created more than 700 jobs and are transforming their communities. Based on our success, we are expanding to Tanzania! Through a partnership with a local agency, we will work with 50 social entrepreneurs in the Kilimanjaro region to bring economic opportunities to their communities.
While African economies are some of the fastest growing in the world, unemployment is widespread perpetuating cycles of poverty in families and communities across the continent. Unemployment disproportionately affects the 290M youth between 15-29 years old. AEC provides a solution to this unemployment. This project will help us identify and invest in 50 young entrepreneurs and empower them to create jobs for their country.
AEC offers young entrepreneurs a unique combination of support through our one-year business accelerator program. We offer formal and tailored capacity building services. We match each entrepreneur with a mentor who works inside the business for 2-3 months in-country. Our technical staff helps with branding, human resources, accounting and financial modeling. And we offer entrepreneurs $5,000 - $50,000 in direct capital through our flexible, low-cost loan fund.
AEC believes that all problems on the African continent have solutions on the African continent. Our theory of change is that, when equipped with knowledge and resources, African youth will realize their entrepreneurial potential, expand their enterprises and create enough jobs to uplift their communities. This will result in local entrepreneurs powering sustainable, economic development in Africa. Specifically, we expect that these 50 entrepreneurs will create at least 750 jobs in 3 years.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
