The Empowering Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Africa (ESEA) 2025 program, led by Village Capital, has officially opened applications for early-stage startups in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, and Ghana. This marks the second phase of the program, following the successful completion of the first phase, which supported 14 ecosystem builders across the five African countries.
The program, supported by Norad – the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, seeks to accelerate climate-focused startups working on scalable solutions in key sectors: Climate Adaptation, Renewable Energy, Blue Economy, and Food Security.
The Kenya Catalyst Fund has been selected as the official ecosystem-building partner in Kenya, joining other partners including Innovate Ventures (Tanzania), Emerge Livelihoods (Malawi), IdeiaLab (Mozambique), and Reach for Change (Ghana).
Through this initiative, Village Capital aims to empower ecosystem builders across Africa by providing direct funding and tailored support to startups addressing the region’s most pressing climate challenges.
The program is set to benefit up to 500 startups, with plans to accelerate 30 startups per country through two dedicated cohorts. Each country will also see four top-performing startups awarded USD 25K in grant funding.
Goals of the ESEA 2025 Program:
- Build a pipeline of 500 startups across five African countries
- Provide pre-acceleration support to 100 startups
- Accelerate 30 startups per country in two cohorts
- Award USD 25K grants to the top 4 performing startups per country
The ESEA 2025 program focuses on identifying, nurturing, and scaling startups that are creating impactful and innovative solutions to fight climate change, enhance sustainability, and drive economic growth.
This call for applications presents a unique opportunity for early-stage startups across Africa to receive the funding, mentorship, and exposure needed to scale their solutions and make a significant impact in the fight against climate change.
Applications close on April 30, 2025. Apply here https://vilcap.com/programs/empowering-sustainable-entrepreneurship-africa-2025#apply.
About Village Capital
Village Capital is reinventing the system to back the entrepreneurs of the future. Known for its
groundbreaking approaches to supporting founders who are building solutions to emergent social,
economic, and environmental challenges, VilCap unlocks critical social and financial capital for
early-stage companies to maximize business and impact growth.
Village Capital has operated in sub-Saharan Africa since 2012, running over 14 accelerator programs
serving entrepreneurs in 15 countries. VilCap has supported more than 120 locally-based
startups and 78 Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESO) working in sectors such as financial health,
hardware, sustainability, and the future of work.
