Création Africa, a R24-million initiative to mentor, incubate and provide financial support for emerging culture and creative businesses in Lesotho, Malawi and South Africa, has issued its final call for applications. Entrepreneurs have until 31 January 2024 to apply.
Création Africa is an initiative of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, coordinated by the Embassy of France and the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS). It aims to empower and scale emerging creative and cultural enterprises in South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi and is part of a continent-wide initiative to bolster Africa’s cultural and creative industries launched in 2022.
The programme is implemented in partnership with UVU Africa, serving as the Creation Africa incubator hub and the French public investment bank BPI.
“Création Africa is about cultural and creative endeavours,” says David Martinon, ambassador of France to South Africa. “It’s a catalyst for cultural entrepreneurs who will be benefiting from an incubation program, funding and connections with investors. If you have a cultural enterprise, we can assist you in defining its objective and model, by providing tailored training, mentoring you to secure seed funding, and accompanying you into scaling it to success thanks to the right networks.”
Lara Rosmarin, head of entrepreneur development and incubation at UVU Accelerate, adds: “We have been enormously encouraged by the applications that we have received since the launch of the Open Call. “We have, as a result of high demand, decided to extend the application deadline from 26 January 26 to 31 January 2024, to give as many businesses in the creative and culture sectors of the economy an opportunity to apply to be part of the Création Africa project.”
She adds that entrepreneurs in the gaming, animation, XR and VR, museums, performing arts, and film and television sectors are especially encouraged to apply and take advantage of this opportunity to be selected as a part of the Création Africa programme.
All projects selected for the Création Africa programme will undergo mentorship and incubation by UVU Africa. Grants will be allocated based on the financial needs of select projects at the end of the incubation programme. Participating projects will be exposed, through Bpifrance, to global networking opportunities that will open doors to further investment opportunities.