African Diaspora Business Ventures

WB, Devt Partners Support African Diaspora Business Ventures

The first Development Marketplace for the African Diaspora in Europe (D-MADE) ended in Brussels last Thursday with a total jury award of close to a million dollars for sixteen investment projects in Africa, with support from the World Bank and other development partners.

The winning projects will be implemented in 11 African countries, including Mali (4), Cote d'Ivoire (2) Benin (2) and one each for Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

The winners were selected from a group of 68 finalists who presented projects that a 24-person jury deemed innovative, sustainable, replicable and based on sound business principles. The sixteen winners currently live in seven European countries: Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The D-MADE initiative was launched in 2007 to allow entrepreneurs from the African diaspora in Europe to participate in the development of their countries. Over 500 business proposals were submitted for consideration, with sixty-eight of them shortlisted for the second round of assessment.

A knowledge exchange forum which preceded the awards event provided a platform for D-MADE promoters, financial institutions and business development service providers to explore partnerships and business opportunities for the D-MADE finalists.

The projects ranged from the processing of raw cashew nuts for export in Ghana to introducing new technologies to remote rural areas for use in medical situations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.