Project purpose
To promote social impact businesses in Kenya and at the same time enhance economic relations between Kenya and The Netherlands to spur business development for social impact.
Project results
This project is focusing on three main results:
- Knowledge exchange and inspiration: participants will be offered a varied and inspiring program that will acquaint them with Dutch (private) equity funds and businesses. They will be coached throughout the whole week. They are offered the opportunity to pitch themselves on different stages targeting potential investors and business partners. Exchanges will be created where Kenyan start-ups will meet their Dutch colleague entrepreneurs in order to learn from one another. It is expected that Dutch SMEs can learn from these frontrunners in terms of social impact enterprising. The Kenyan participants are also offered cultural exchange and Dutch ease of doing business.
- Meet & greet Nairobi-Amsterdam: this will take place through connecting the Kenyan social enterprises with Dutch private sector. Dutch business can meet potential business partners and will be informed about local market opportunities.
- Media attention for Nairobi and Amsterdam social impact hubs: this will be organised through generating attention for the Kenyan participants and the Nairobi start-up ecosystem. This ecosystem is to be connected to business opportunities for Dutch entrepreneurs in Kenya. It starts with storytelling.
Location
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Executor
Crosswise Works
Budget
€ 28,216
Project status
Closed
Project activities
The Kenyan delegation will consist of:
- Impact social startups (with focus on: tech/mobile/ICT/creative/health)
- Funders (can be either impact investment managers, angel investors or venture capitalists)
- a founder / MD / business development director of startups hubs & incubators;
- a journalist.
The expedition will take place around the Capital Week Amsterdam (21-25 September) which is an initiative from the Amsterdam Economic Board and Startup Amsterdam. The event will attract hundreds of startups, VCs and angel investors to Amsterdam. More importantly, Crosswise is expected to organize and co-create (with partners and other stakeholders) fringe events on social innovation & impact investment. This means the Nairobi delegation will be able to participate in some of the scheduled events and will be offered the opportunity to pitch themselves to a very interesting audience.
To ensure sufficient commitment from the Kenyan side we expect all private sector representatives to pay for their own travel expenses. As soon as they ‘land’ in the Dutch start-up Delta they will be taken care of. These are some of the existing activities that may be incorporated in the program:
Amsterdam Capital Week
Uprise Festival Uprise
Festival is the largest startup festival in Europe- it’s all about helping startups increase their visibility towards companies, universities and new audiences.
Capital Tour XXL
During 1 day 120+ startups will cycle through Amsterdam to meet up with angels, VC’s and corporate ventures at their HQ’s and learn all about the startup investment landscape.
Capital on Stage
Capital On Stage is the local, unconventional (and exclusive) funding conference where investors pitch to startups, and founders pick which investors they want to meet. Now in Amsterdam for the first time.
Legal masterclasses
Renowned Amsterdam lawyers share their knowledge to help startups get practical with the lengthy legal stuff.
CrowdFest
A live-crowdfuncing festival: participating startups will be trained to pitch their idea on the spot convince the 5.000 visitors to invest in them.
These are some specific expedition elements that have been suggested to include in the tailor-made program:
Making impact in Africa
Africa provides ample opportunity for Dutch entrepreneurs and investors to build and develop successful impact businesses. This public event will be dedicated to the best practices and will inspire others to follow their lead.
Africa on the rise: the digital revolution
Africa skips the desktop and fiber phase and has fast forwarded directly to the era of mobile, wireless and modular tech. During this public event we highlight the developments and examples that will turn Africa into a playground for impactful tech innovations.