THE FRENCH AGENCY FOR DEVELOPMENT DIGITAL ENERGY CHALLENGE 2024 FOR AFRICAN START-UPS (70,000€ PRIZE)

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THE FRENCH AGENCY FOR DEVELOPMENT DIGITAL ENERGY CHALLENGE 2024

The Digital Energy Facility announced the Digital Energy Challenge in 2021 for a four-year period, with an annual call for ideas. The Challenge’s goal is to encourage the development of innovative solutions that will increase energy access, facilitate renewable energy integration, and improve energy operator performance.

Requirements

The 2024 Call for Projects targets projects based in Africa and owned by:

Start-ups in the pre-seed phase or with early-stage activities. NGOs can apply under the Start-up category (see more details on the eligibility criteria for Start-ups).
Public utilities (public power utilities and public Independent System Operators, private companies under a public service concession, power pools, regional organisations, energy regulators, rural electrification authorities) in partnership with technology/service providers (see more details on the eligibility criteria for Utilities).

Also Apply: Call for Applications: Village Capital Greentech Africa Investment-Readiness Accelerator 2024 for diverse-led startups

Eligible countries

Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo Democratic Republic, Congo Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seych

Benefits for challenge winners

The Challenge awards 2 to 3 cooperation projects between utilities and technology/service providers, as well as 5 to 8 start-up ventures annually. An annual budget of €1.8 million will support grant-based funding, technical assistance, and strategic planning.

Challenge winners can benefit from:

A financial contribution in the form of a grant for equipment and software purchases, training, recruitment costs for start-ups, and product/service purchase costs linked to technology/service providers for utilities
Technical assistance for all utilities and certain start-ups on a case-by-case basis, such as project management support, strategic and technical expertise, and accounting/reporting assistance
A bootcamp run by cross-sectorial experts to support project implementation, foster synergies between project winners and share best practices
Increased visibility for the project through widespread social media communication campaigns piloted by AFD during the selection phase, award ceremony, bootcamp and for a period of time after these events

Also Apply: Call for Applications: Access Bank Youthrive Program for Nigerian MSMEs