THE SDA BOCCONI FOR GROWTH INITIATIVE INCLUDES A ONE WEEK INTENSIVE PROGRAM IN MILAN, AND A MEETING WITH EUROPEAN VENTURE CAPITALISTS AND BUSINESS ANGELS, FOR AFRICAN BUSINESSES SELECTED FROM AMONG THE 5,000 THAT PARTICIPATED IN BOCCONI'S ADANSONIA PROJECT WHICH INCLUDED A SIX WEEK FREE ONLINE COURSE

Thanks to the pro-bono initiative SDA Bocconi for Growth, which covers travel, training and accommodation expenses in Milan, 20 African entrepreneurs are attending an intensive 1-week entrepreneurship program at SDA Bocconi School of Management and will meet European venture capitalists, who will help them to develop an effective pitch of their start-ups.
 
This week the African entrepreneurs are in Milan attending an entrepreneurship program addressing all the technical, but also psychological, problems that startuppers typically face and focusing on the lean startup methodology. Next week they will participate in Bocconi & Africa 2018. Forum on Entrepreneurship, a three-day conference that will culminate for them, on March 8, with “Startup Day - Special Focus on Africa”, a meeting with venture capitalists and international business angels.
 
The 20 entrepreneurs are active in a wide range of sectors, from agriculture to logistics, from telemedicine to real estate, from electric mobility to the media, up to apps that match supply and demand in sectors such as transport and car repair (CLICK HERE to read the factsheets). They come from Cameroon, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa and have been selected among the 5,000 African entrepreneurs already beneficiaries of the Adansonia project, managed by Bocconi professor Fernando Vega-Redondo. Thanks to Adansonia the entrepreneurs took advantage of a 6-week online course and have been provided with useful tools for networking with other African entrepreneurs.
 
“SDA Bocconi for Growth is the philanthropic project of SDA Bocconi that every year, since 2012, makes its knowledge and the work of professors and staff available for free to foster the growth of people, organizations and companies facing difficulties that prevent them from being able to afford the costs of training in a top-tier business school”, explains the Dean of SDA Bocconi, Giuseppe Soda. “In recent years, the initiative has benefited, among others, companies hit by earthquakes and volunteers of small non-profit organizations. Africa is tomorrow’s Continent and developing a generation of local entrepreneurs is a fundamental condition for its success. Among the many possible interventions, this is our contribution”.