We are seeking the assistance of corporate or individual partners to support the establishment and implementation of FinAfrica’s activities. There are three different ways that you could support our entrepreneurship initiative:
...through funding,
through technical assistance in the three different fields of FinAfrica-s activities, training, e-learning and incubation, and
with the implementation and completion of entrepreneurship training, FinAfrica also envisages the establishment of a Guarantee fund that will support lending to newly trained entrepreneurs for the development and expansion of their businesses.
A general outline of each of our requirements is provided below; do contact us at info@finafrica.org if you require further details. We welcome your support!
- Funding:
- Technical Assistance Requirements
We have estimated that the total costs for establishing, setting up and the first two years of operational requirements for FinAfrica will amount to approximately 794,200 EURO (USD 1.13m or UGX 2.27bn) as provided in the table below. The two shareholders will provide up to the equivalent of USD 100,000 (approx. EUR 70,000) in terms of subscribed capital to support the acquisition of some fixed assets and to cover the initial operating expenses during the project's start up phase.
This leaves total donor/sponsorship funding sought for FinAfrica at EUR 694,200 (USD 991,713 or UGX 1.98bn). Funding could be in the form of start- up grants/seed capital given that the financial sustainability of the proposed project is not anticipated to be achieved until a second expansion phase in 2012. It would also be possible to contribute to FinAfrica’s funding requirements through the in-kind purchase of its fixed assets and equipment requirements such as the purchase of desktop computers, printers, scanners, office fixtures and equipment for 1 training and 1 incubation room each with 25 workstations.
Technical assistance will also be sought in running the Centre’s three key activities and providing Training of trainers (ToT) as well as direct client training.
- Business Training
- Business Incubation
The project sponsors will be directly involved and oversee the content of the programmes provided under the training component of FinAfrica’s activities. A training of trainers (TOT) programme will be developed to ensure a comprehensive and coordinated course structure that can be developed to meet FinAfrica’s outreach target client groups sourced from different sectors and geographical locations.
As such TA would be sought to:
carry out the ToT programmes in business management and finance;
develop the course materials and the templates used for the business plan models used by the students;
carry out training in specific areas of expertise such as marketing, advertising, MIS development including ICT and web-based solutions, legal and regulatory requirements.
E-learning training
The e-learning centre will be at the core of the entrepreneurship training provided by FinAfrica. Thanks to the anticipated 2010 arrival of the optic fibre cable connection in east Africa that will provide fast broadband internet, the Centre will be able to offer tailor made business courses at flexible study plans to suit the needs of its clients. Potential forthcoming partnerships include:
a) In terms of IT technology, FinAfrica has been in discussions with a reputable international IT organization with regards to the possible establishment of an accredited E-based Entrepreneurship Institute.
b) with regards to e-learning and training material, FinAfrica has received positive feedback from European and US based business schools with a view of establishing cooperation on the provision of access to high quality business education via a network of strategic partners. The model rests on the adoption of a blended learning model that relies on both online and face to face learning thereby reducing cost and access barriers to business education.
Within this context, FinAfrica’s TA and capacity building requirements will therefore include:
ICT assistance and solutions in terms of IT systems integration, installation and support;
IT hardware and software to enable delivery of the e-learning courses;
Broadband internet network access;
IT equipment and materials (already listed in FinAfrica’s fixed assets requirements)
FinAfrica will seek adequate office and manufacturing infrastructure (warehousing) for its business incubation activities. It is anticipated that the facilities will need to be supervised by technical experts in the various target sectors that FinAfrica will develop on a demand-led basis. FinAfrica’s intention will be to enter into partnerships with vocational training centres for the provision of the required expertise, some of which could be drawn locally while for specific sectors, may need to be drawn internationally. Given the intended development of small scale manufacturing, TA is anticipated to be required in the various fields of:
Carpentry and tailoring equipment and expertise,
Food processing equipment and expertise,
IT, video and media production equipment and expertise,
Fishing and agro-business expertise, and at a later stage,
Retail facilities for the marketing of the incubated enterprises products.
FinAfrica will enter into partnership with selected micro-finance institutions in order to provide its client entrepreneurs access to funding to finance their specific business requirements. FinAfrica will then seek to establish a guarantee scheme for its candidate entrepreneurs and incubated businesses. Under this scheme, funds would be deposited within one or more of the accredited financial institutions to guarantee lending to FinAfrica’s clients. FinAfrica will then maintain the responsibility of providing the financial institution with regular reporting on the borrower’s financial performance and will provide banks with access to the borrower’s incubated facilities and equipment.
Such Guarantee Fund could initially be established to provide either full or partial guarantees against lending to those FinAfrica incubated clients with realistic business ideas who have successfully completed the entrepreneurship training programmes.
This is just a general description of our requirements, do contact us at info@finafrica.org for further details, we welcome your support.