The Sankalp Africa Summit is the fastest growing inclusive development platform for entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, donors and corporations. Sankalp Africa Summit 2016 is the third edition in East Africa with over 900 delegates including successful entrepreneurs, reputed leaders, eminent social impact partners like World Bank Group, USAID, The Lemelson Foundation, Shell Foundation, Kenya Climate Innovation Center, Educate Global Fund and ICCO Cooperation to name a few. It has brought together delegations from West Africa, Southern Africa and other countries in East Africa, enabling more regional collaboration and dialogue.
Over the last 2 years, Sankalp Forum, has convened diverse stakeholder groups with the intent to create a network approach to enterprise-led development. With a philosophy, that transformative economies will be borne from high- impact businesses that have the ability to scale. The Forum has enabled a common action platform to connect, collaborate and celebrate African entrepreneurship.
With the Millennium Development Goals coming to a close in 2015, and with the rise of the new Sustainable Development Goals, the creation of affordable, environment friendly and high quality services for these consumers will be critical to reducing vulnerabilities and increasing livelihood opportunities.
Speaking about the Forum, Nisha Dutt, CEO Intellecap, said “We recognize the need to be globally relevant but also be firmly embedded locally. It is this belief that has enabled us to set roots in Kenya, build teams and momentum with new partnerships and activities. Africa has always had a leadership position in ICT and Technology, but increasingly activity by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in sectors like healthcare, clean energy, agriculture and financial services is booming. This was the key driver behind expanding the Sankalp Forum to Africa.
Each year Sankalp recognizes high potential entrepreneurs as leaders of the Future of Africa. This year, Intellecap reviewed over 500 enterprises, shortlisted 250 to finally select 13 that will take part in the Sankalp Africa Award Showcase. The 13 finalists will pitch to the audience, competing for the coveted Award. The top three will be rewarded with capital injection into their business. Over the last 2 years, Sankalp has recognized 20 enterprises in Africa and facilitated investments worth US$ 200,000 into one enterprise. Globally, Sankalp has supported 500 such businesses and channeled investments worth US$120 million.
Winners of this year’s award will be chosen by a jury featuring leading industry veterans including, Duncan Onyango, Regional Director – Acumen Fund, Manu Chandaria, Chairman – Comcraft, Amrote Abdella, Regional Director – Microsoft4Africa, Jasper Snouk, CFO – Doen Foundation, Eline Blaauboer, Managing Partner –Spark Fund, Mark Carrato, Economic Growth Director – USAID, Courtney Blodgett, Program Officer – Vulcan Inc and investment guru Aly Khan Satchu, CEO -Rich Management.
The Sankalp Africa Summit 2016 continues the exciting conversations on entrepreneurship, innovation and inclusive development. All conversations at this year’s Summit revolve around the theme of “Spurring the Entrepreneurship Economy”. The Summit aims to drive greater harmonization among global actors and build on conversations from the Africa summit at the Global Sankalp Summit in Mumbai from April 21-22, 2016. The Global Summit will witness participation from over 1500 delegates representing 30 countries.