Building and managing a mentor and expert network for African start-ups scaling innovations for the agriculture and food sector

GIZ implements the project "Scaling digital agriculture innovations through start-ups" (SAIS) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The purpose of SAIS is to increase the investor readiness of selected African start-ups in the food- and agTech sector that are about to scale. For this purpose, the project provides tailor-made company development measures (e. g. improving business models, product development, financial management) through an Investment Readiness Programme (IRP) and facilitates access to investment opportunities. In that regard, the contractor shall mainly build and manage a network of short-term experts (including contracting) that can be selected by the start-ups supported through the programme; manage the community and provide an online-platform to run the community from the 2nd year.