The 4th edition of the African Startup Conference, hosted by Algeria starting Saturday, is an opportunity to examine new mechanisms for financing innovative entrepreneurs, a key pillar of the continent’s ecosystem in this field, according to the President of the African Startup Association “Taas Africa,” Just Omomo Ibe.
Ibe explained, in a statement to the Algerian news agency (APS), that this conference, scheduled from December 6 to 8 in Algiers, offers African governments a chance to adopt innovative financing models, expand innovation funds, and provide tax incentives to investors in the innovation sector.
She stressed that access to financing remains one of the biggest challenges facing startups in Africa, as banks demand “heavy” guarantees that do not match the nature of these companies’ activities, while foreign investors often consider the African market to be “high risk.”
Beyond financing issues, startups across the continent face multiple challenges, including improving digital infrastructure, particularly high-speed Internet, innovation incubators, cloud solutions, and public–private partnerships, which would allow startups to focus on product development and expansion into new markets, according to the Lagos-based head of Taas Africa.
Regulatory instability, complex administrative procedures, and their lack of suitability also pose major obstacles to startup growth in many African countries, Ibe added, emphasizing the role of the conference in addressing these concerns through open and direct dialogue between governments and the various actors of the startup ecosystem.
She noted that several African countries have achieved significant progress in improving the startup environment and should serve as models for the rest of the continent. She also underlined the importance of the conference in discussing the harmonization of economic and commercial laws between African countries to facilitate startups’ access to markets across the continent.
The 4th Startup Conference in Algeria is therefore a timely opportunity to strengthen this harmonization and support cross-border cooperation among innovative project leaders, she added, noting that her association is working to develop a comprehensive resource bank to build innovative companies capable of creating wealth and boosting the contribution of the digital economy to Africa’s overall development.
