SuguLab was launched by Suguba, a Malian-based regional platform that fosters entrepreneurship and regional integration. Suguba aims to become the first sustainable, regionally connected network of locally-run communities, workspaces and programs.
Entrepreneurs and SMEs in West African countries such as Mali, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire play a pivotal role in driving economic growth, creating jobs, and engineering solutions to various development challenges. However, there is a lack of access to expertise, advisory support, networks, and financial resources needed to start new ventures. The key gap is sustainability and replicability of the SMEs while at the same time, capacity-building services for SMEs in the region are scarce and rarely sustainable.
More money is flowing into impact investing, yet many entrepreneurs creating companies that serve the poor still find it difficult to raise capital and reach specific operational objectives. Also, out of the $366M that African start-ups raised in 2016, only 10% went to Francophone countries. Suguba intends to close this gap by launching SuguLab.
