Guinea Bissau
IDEA App - Guinea Bissau
IDEA App is a series of online incubation and mentoring programs created to make sure that thousands of early-stage entrepreneurs build their capacity and create viable enterprises in their regions, especially youth and women. <mark>IDEA App supports entrepreneurs from Guinea Bissau to turn this around by creating innovative solutions that can boost, protect or scale the most relevant value chains in the country while generating new decent job opportunities. </mark> <p></p> How does the model work? <br> - UNIDO set three IDEA Centers as implementation partners and undergo a “Training of Trainers” program to build their entrepreneurship program management and incubation capacity. The training consisted of 6 sessions covering topics from creating a mentors network to mastering the IDEA App platform to facilitating best practices. <br> - Bridge for Billions co-manages the entrepreneurship program with the three IDEA Centers in Guinea Bissau: Agência Nacional do Empreendedorismo Juvenil (ANEJ), Innovalab and Ajuda de Desenvolvimento de Povo para Povo (ADPP) <br> - All program partners select altogether 60 entrepreneurs from Guinea Bissau and over 80 local and international mentors to participate in the IDEA App program. All of them are trained and onboarded during Kickoff Day. <br> - <mark>As part of the program, all founders access structured guidance in 8 business tools, constant support from the incubation management team, personalized weekly mentorship, and a global community of founders, workshops, and sectorial resources. Internet and tablets are provided to the IDEA Centers by UNIDO to ensure all participants have the necessary tools to undergo the training.</mark> <br> - Agência Nacional do Empreendedorismo Juvenil (ANEJ), Innovalab and Ajuda de Desenvolvimento de Povo para Povo (ADPP) provide local support and knowledge to the founders, additional in-person workshops and resources, and physical space for founders to work from. <br> - Entrepreneurs work in teams to develop their businesses while working weekly with volunteer mentors through the IDEA App platform. The five best and most impactful projects will receive up to €5,000 in funding.
InnovaLab
InnovaLab (a social entreprise) founded by young Bissau-Guinean engineers, financiers, and managers and is the pioneer innovation accelerator in Guinea-Bissau. Innovalab fosters entrepreneurial ecosystem development and creates social impact by supporting venture creation and entrepreneurship in the following sectors: education, agriculture, healthcare and infrastructure. <p></p> <mark>Through in person and online (web and radio) mentoring activities, as well as OpenLabs, Forums, TechCamps, Hackathon and Bootcamps, we inspire and empower Guinea-Bissau entrepreneurs to solve their immediate socio-economic challenges by leveraging and providing access to technology, resources and stakeholder networks. Our objective is to achieve sustainable development in Africa, starting in Guinea Bissau, by fostering innovation among the youth. </mark><p></p> Our mission is to spur innovation, develop new technologies, and expand job opportunities across Africa. <p></p> OUR FOCUS<br> We fuel economic development by playing a major role in Guinea-Bissau's innovation ecosystem: a network of established public- and private-sector organizations, all working together to spur innovation, develop new technologies, and expand job opportunities.