GABON – The African Financial Company (Cofina) has granted a fund of CFAF 250 million (US$456k) to Ogooué Labs, a coworking venue hosting and incubating startups looking for a space to get creative and innovative, to support entrepreneurship in Gabon.
This funding aims to support the StartX 241 program initiated by the incubator aimed at small and very small businesses in their development phase,
The objective of the program is to accelerate the industrial scale-up and distribution of startup products from French-speaking countries to new markets.
This fund will enable Ogooué Labs to create 10 startups, and to train, through its training center in digital professions and leadership School 241, 20 Gabonese entrepreneurs in startup management.
Supporting these 10 startups will allow the creation of 40 direct jobs for young Gabonese. Entrepreneurs, traders and artisans who enroll in the 241 School’s training program can also benefit from this funding.
In the long term, the incubator aims to support VSEs and SMEs towards the transition and digital transformation of the School. economy.
Recently, Ogooué Labs signed an agreement of more than 13 million FCFA (US$23k) with the French Development Agency, to provide Gabonese populations with official information on the Coronavirus and the means to protect themselves from it.
The African Financial Company will further support entrepreneurial development across the Central African region. The new program will also push the distribution of tech startup products to French-speaking countries across the continent.
Sylvère Boussamba, the founder of Ogooué Labs described the agreement as the “beginning of a strategic partnership for Gabon which is launched in the digital transition.”
Very small businesses (TPE) and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) wishing to initiate their digital transition can now benefit from support within the School241 of Ogooué Labs. This structure signed at its headquarters in Libreville an agreement with Cofina Gabon SA
Continuing, Sylvère Boussamba maintains that “by deploying these Gabonese startups to 11 ECCAS countries, Gabon increases its chances of economic success for its startups. Especially since they are going to attack a market of over 200 million consumers.”
“This dynamic will allow 20 Gabonese entrepreneurs to lead start-ups in Central Africa and around forty young Gabonese to find jobs,” said the founder of Ogooué Labs.
For his part, the CEO of Cofina believes that Cofina Gabon’s action is in line with the vision of “Chairman and CEO, Jean-Luc Konan, which is to support entrepreneurship in the countries where Cofina is developing its activities.”
Believing to be rightfully in his field of intervention, Yvan N’na Mboma noted that the financing of entrepreneurship in Tech is explained by business opportunities and flows generated by the digital economy.
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