The Ivorian Minister of Youth Promotion and Youth Employment, Mamadou Touré, has launched, in Abidjan, a college of technological and innovative companies called “Côte d’Ivoire Innovation 20 (# Ci20)” aimed, in particular, at uniting all startups in the west African country. The organization comprises 15 young entrepreneurs, including 11 winners of the National Award of Excellence and more than 85 national and international awards. 

“For us, it is indeed a question of celebrating the creative genius of young Ivorians,” said Mr. Mamadou Touré. 

“With a view to supporting them, I have instructed my department to set up a special fund for our startups, and this fund will initially amount to 500 million CFA francs ($1m) as a starting fund,” said Mr. Mamadou Touré.

Here Is What You Need To Know

• The CI20 is not just another startup association; it has gone ahead to design a programme which will last two years per cohort, the founding members constituting the first cohort. 

• The goal, according to Steven Bedi, president of the CI20 association, “is to create 2,000 jobs at the end of these two years with a 30% impact on women.” The program is estimated at 4 million euros (2.62 billion CFA francs).

• CI20’s objective will also be to promote 100 national startups in five years, strengthen their capacities as well as structure them to international standards in order to help them attract investments.

•  In 2019, African startups attracted USD 2 billion in investments and 85% of the funding went to four countries: Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa followed by Ghana.

“We said to ourselves, why not position Côte d’Ivoire as the next hub for capturing this funding and this economic dynamic represented by tech companies,” said Steven Bedi, president of the CI20 association. 

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“Today, the CI20 has 15 founding members. We manage to accumulate a turnover of 7 million euros and 300 jobs,” he said, stating that the organization aspires to become the federation of the ecosystem of startups to be able to speak with one voice.

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• The Ivory Coast is also preparing a startup law which should make it possible to support the technological innovations of young people.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer

Cote d’ivoire college of startups Cote d’ivoire college of startups