P R O J E C T P U R P O S E & S C O P E O F W O R K
Strengthening the overall health and capacity of ESOs and entrepreneurs is vital for effective, sustainable impact on Africa’s Inno- vation Ecosystem. When ESOs, entrepreneurs, their people and systems are stronger, they are better prepared to carry out their mission, whether that is reducing youth unemployment and poverty, or increasing access to healthcare or education. ESOs, entrepreneurs, and investors are uniquely positioned to best contribute to the African innovation ecosystem. However, current challenges can affect their contributions. These challenges include a struggle with business management skills, lack of appropriate mentorship, misalignment between ESOs, entrepreneurs and investors, and misunderstood investor expectations. This report seeks to shed light on ESOs, entrepreneurs and investors needs and the best practices and emerging strategies to meet them. Ultimately, the goal of this report is to inform AfriLabs on how to structure and strengthen its capacity-building efforts, undergirded by the belief that doing so will help ESOs, entrepreneurs, and investors achieve new heights of impact as they endeavor to further strengthen innovation ecosystems across Africa. Our methodology, surveys and focus groups breakdowns Our goal consisted of analyzing data from three key stakeholders (entrepreneurs, ESOs and investors) of the innovation ecosystem in Africa by marrying existing primary and secondary data to understand and assess their needs. With the data and literature that was provided to us, we began with a deep exploration to get a general understanding and assessment of the needs of ESOs, entrepreneurs, and investors. In parallel, we reached out to ESOs and entrepreneurs for focus groups: A first round of focus group with 36 randomly selected ESOs from five regions of the continent (West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa and North Africa) to verify their needs captured by survey data. A second round of focus group with 53 randomly selected entrepreneurs from five regions of the continent (West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa and North Africa) to verify their needs captured by survey data. These focus groups confirmed the themes that emerged from the initial data analysis.
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N E E D S A S S E S S M E N T R E P O R T
Trends and insights from ESOs, entrepreneurs, and investors
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