The 100,000 MSME initiative aims to strengthen the capabilities of 100,000 MSMEs in Africa by 2024, through business and commercial skills training, improve their access to finance and new markets, and simultaneously establish support and incubation networks to strengthen the its success. The Initiative is aligned with Aspirations 1 and 6 of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 “The Africa We Want”, which aim, respectively, to build a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development, and to build an Africa whose development is driven by people, building on the potential offered by African people, especially women and young people, and caring for children.
Components of the 100 Million MSME Initiative The 100 Million MSME Initiative is built on three pillars, these three pillars are designed to ensure that MSMEs across the continent are supported to become more resilient, improve their market access and take advantage of technology to enter the African market of 1.3 billion consumers
Components of the 100 Million MSMEs Initiative
The 100 Million MSME Initiative is built on three pillars, these three pillars were designed to ensure that MSMEs across the continent are supported to become more resilient, improve their market access and take advantage of technology to enter the African market for 1.3 billion consumers.
AUDA NEPAD MSME Academy
The Academy’s mission is to help African micro, small and medium enterprises develop knowledge and capabilities to unlock growth. The Academy serves as a repository of learning, offering customized curricula for African MSMEs while providing them with a pool of mentors and peer advisors to help them access funding opportunities. The Academy offers content through an informative webinar with guest speakers, a series of instructor-led virtual training programs and guidance for MSMEs. It has country-specific content with a world-class Pan-African design to ensure the right balance between local realities (MSME challenges and opportunities) and a structured Pan-African approach to sustainability and scalability of initiatives.
MSME Financing Support Program
AUDA-NEPAD recognizes that MSME financing is critical to the success of the Agency’s approach, through developing the entrepreneurial skillset of young SMEs to improve their formal entrepreneurial approaches and increase their access to finance. Therefore, to address the constraints that African MSMEs face in accessing finance, AUDA NEPAD is working with development finance institutions and Pan-African banks to create a financing platform that will contribute to bridging the MSME financing gap by addressing major structural challenges through its platform.
AUDA MSME Market.
Aiming to address this issue, AUDA NEPAD is working with its partners such as McKinsey & Company and the MasterCard Foundation to create a marketplace for all African youth and women-owned MSMEs. A consolidated marketplace of marketplaces, enabling MSMEs to access e-commerce, procurement and alternative financing opportunities across the continent.
The AUDA MSME Marketplace will support MSMEs with access to new markets and growth opportunities, simplifying processes for African MSMEs to participate in public procurement in Africa. The platform will serve as a repository of markets (e-commerce, procurement and financing) across the continent.