DIASPORA – The needs of African diaspora entrepreneurs at the heart of the Mediterranean Worlds Forum

On 8 February 2022, on the occasion of the Mediterranean Worlds Forum held in the Palais des Congrès of the Parc Chanot in Marseille, ANIMA Investment Network organised a participative workshop with entrepreneurs from the diaspora as part of the co-development of the Hub, the digital platform of the MEET Africa project.

After the Hub’s MEET Up organised in Bordeaux on 8 December 2021, 16 entrepreneurs from the African diaspora and representatives of entrepreneurial support structures in the Europe-Africa region, including some partners involved in the MEET Africa initiative, met for a 2nd collective intelligence workshop in Marseille.

The MEET Africa Hub is a digital platform that guides entrepreneurs from the African diaspora towards support services and federates a network of organisations working in favour of entrepreneurship in the Europe-Africa area. It is an initiative of the MEET Africa programme, funded by the European Union and the French Development Agency and implemented by Expertise France with the support of ANIMA.

As part of the co-construction of the digital platform, ANIMA has launched a series of collective intelligence workshops, the MEET Up, with the objective of making a diagnosis of the real needs and challenges of entrepreneurs in the African diaspora and to co-define with them the service offer of its 2nd version. Their contributions will be at the heart of the next developments and will make the beta version, produced in 2021 on the basis of the needs expressed by the network operators, evolve to version 2!

MEET Up, the essential meetings for the co-construction of the Hub with entrepreneurs

Around two brainstorming sessions, these collective intelligence workshops bring together entrepreneurs from the diaspora to discuss the major difficulties encountered at each stage of their entrepreneurial journey and listen to their experiences.

On the basis of an initial analysis of the levers and obstacles of their business projects, concrete needs are evoked by the participants and are then transformed into potential functionalities for a digital platform. These functionalities could be developed in the 2nd version of the device.

The final version of the functionalities implemented will respond to these needs expressed during the MEET Up meetings as well as to the results of a survey distributed to the community of entrepreneurs of the African diaspora via an online form.

We are always looking for new ways to improve the beta version of the MEET Africa Hub to support more business projects in their expansion and internationalisation in Africa.

We have developed a survey and would like to have the chance to receive your feedback.

Entrepreneurs of the African Diaspora, answer our survey (in French only) and contribute to create the platform that fits your needs!