Ecosystem

Active Ecosystem Building Projects in Africa

We have five active flagship entrepreneurial ecosystem building projects

Connecten

Connecten is a national ecosystem diagnostic and policy project to determine necessary conditions needed to drive entrepreneurship-led sustainable development in South Africa. It is in partnership with the Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies and various provincial governments.

Rwanda Ecosystem Recalibration

Rwanda Recalibration is a national ecosystem diagnostic and policy project to determine necessary conditions needed to drive entrepreneurship-led sustainable development in Rwanda. It is in partnership with the Government of Rwanda’s Ministry of Innovation and ICT (MINICT) and Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies.

Ecosystem.build

Ecosystem.build is a global partnership with Innovation for Policy Foundation (I4Policy), Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), Smart Africa (SA) and Utrecht University. Despite the richness of innovative ideas and ventures emerging across the African continent, there exists a valuable opportunity to elevate these endeavors further. It is our aim to transform the prevailing low-information environment into a fertile ground for entrepreneurial ecosystems to thrive. The ecosystem.build platform is envisioned as a collaborative initiative aimed at consolidating resources, methodologies, and expertise to foster better informed decision making and grow entrepreneurial ecosystems across the continent.

Africa Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Index

The Africa Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Index (AEEI) is an Africa-wide research initiative in partnership with Utrecht University and Innovation for Policy Foundation (I4Policy). The AEEI is constructed based on scientifically rigorous and societally relevant entrepreneurial ecosystem analytics. It consists of seven key challenge areas that provide context to the entrepreneurial landscape of 29 countries in Africa. These include finance, market access, governance, support, culture, infrastructure and human capital.

Pan-African Policy Taskforce

The Pan-African Policy Taskforce is a participant-led platform co-led by Smart Africa Alliance, i4Policy and Allan Gray Centre for Africa Entrepreneurship (AGCAE). The Taskforce was created from a collective need voiced by the African startup ecosystem to cultivate connections, enable the flow of information, and provide a venue where specific expertise, learnings and best practice can be shared.

SAIEPH

The Pilot SAIEPH is envisioned as a strategic platform designed to generate reliable, high-quality data and actionable insights that strengthen the national innovation policy landscape in South Africa. The purpose of SAIEPH is to provide the evidence base necessary to support informed decision-making, strategic planning, and policy development in the country.

SAIEPH is designed to complement DSTI’s broader efforts to build and mature South Africa’s innovation ecosystem. Structured as a three-year pilot, it is built on a triple helix partnership. It aims to dynamically co-inspire collaborative efforts that ensure government, industry, and academia contribute to and benefit from the intelligence-gathering, experimentation, and evidence-building process, with partners including DSTI, the CSIR (ISEP), AGGP, and the AGCAE at Stellenbosch University.