EU and International Finance sign a 4.8 million euro agreement to support Angolan entrepreneurs

The agreement to implement the project to support incubators and entrepreneurship in the African country was signed by Jeannette Seppen, EU ambassador to Angola, and Sérgio Pimenta, IFC vice president for Africa, in the presence of Angolan entities.

The component of this regional program for Angola will have 4.8 million euros destined to support entrepreneurship for five years, namely two business incubators related to the finance and technology sectors as well as the agro-industrial sector.

According to Jeannette Seppen, the partnership between the institutions will "train incubators of innovative companies and contribute to the creation of sustainable jobs" in Angola.

The program "inserts itself into one of the priorities of cooperation between the EU in Angola and the Angolan Government to support the diversification of the Angolan economy, in particular to support entrepreneurship and the creation of micro, small and medium-sized companies".

"The aim of this program is to preserve livelihoods and promote the creation of inclusive jobs that guarantee productive jobs and the right to an adequate standard of living and decent work with a strong focus on women and young entrepreneurs", said the European diplomat .

With the implementation of this project for five years, Jeannette Seppen said she hopes that Angolan incubators "can progressively expand in the future, through a greater emphasis on concrete capacity building, knowledge sharing and innovation transfer activities".

For his part, IFC vice president for Africa, Sérgio Pimenta, said at the time that the national economy "needs diversification and diversification is really starting to support smaller companies, especially versed in the digital economy, to create more jobs".

"This agreement signed today will allow us to develop and put into practice a program with three axes, all focused on the development of small businesses in Angola, especially in relation to the digital economy, agricultural development, among others".

The administrator of the National Institute for Support to Small and Medium Enterprises (Inapem), Bráulio Augusto, praised the signed agreement, considering it an "important milestone that should develop lasting actions to dignify the entrepreneurial vein of Angolans".