From July 2024, the South Africa-based non-governmental organization (NGOs) OceanHub Africa will be running its fifth acceleration programme, focusing on protecting and safeguarding Africa's oceans. Interested start-ups can apply to the call for projects from now until 5 May 2024.
In Africa, the issue of preserving the oceans is an acute one, given the extent to which ecosystems are affected by human activities. As well as raising public awareness and improving the management of waste and land-based pollutants, which are solutions advocated by environmentalists, the South Africa-based non-governmental organisation (NGOs) OceanHub Africa is banking on innovation to ensure the survival of marine biodiversity. It has just launched the fifth cohort of its start-up acceleration programme.
“This year, the initiative will support up to fifteen of Africa’s most promising impact-driven for-profit start-ups dedicated to preserving and restoring the health of the oceans”, says OceanHub Africa, which is the leading catalyst for ocean impact entrepreneurship in Africa. According to the United Nations (UN), the ocean, which produces at least 50% of the planet’s oxygen, is home to most of the planet’s biodiversity, particularly in Africa, which is bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east by the Indian Ocean.
Eight months’ training in the OceanHub Africa incubator
What’s more, the ocean is the main source of protein for more than a billion people around the world, as well as being key to the global economy, with around 40 million people employed by ocean industries by 2030, according to UN forecasts.
To be among the fifteen selected, young companies must apply by 5 May 2024 at the latest. Successful applicants will have to propose innovative solutions to ensure water quality, limit sources of pollution, particularly plastic waste and wastewater, and protect and regenerate the coastline, in line with the UN’s fourteenth Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs), which calls for respect for animal and plant species living in aquatic environments. The selected projects will be announced on 13 June 2024, and one month later the actual training of the start-ups will begin, scheduled to last eight months.
The accelerator programme includes training on investment readiness, market accessibility, presentation tactics and methods for measuring and managing ocean impact, as well as funding of up to $10,000 per project. In addition, the selected entrepreneurs will receive one-to-one guidance from mentors and industry professionals until graduation, scheduled for the end of February 2025, in line with the Ocean Innovation Africa initiative.
For the record, since 2020, OceanHub Africa has supported some 32 African start-ups as part of its green transition initiative.
For more information on OceanHub Africa’s call for projects, click here.
Inès Magoum
