Thank you for being part of Conecta Summit Africa.
We are transforming entrepreneurship ecosystems across Africa.
Uniting Africa's top ESOs to shape the future of inclusive entrepreneurship
The Conecta Summit brought together key stakeholders — from innovators and investors to entrepreneurs and policymakers — with the goal of fostering collaboration and building a stronger, more sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa.
Each edition of Conecta Summit created a unique opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations, discover common ground, and build partnerships capable of transforming the future of entrepreneurship. In 2025, we officially launched Conecta Africa, reaffirming Bridge for Billions’ commitment to innovation, action, and positive impact.
The Summit was made possible with the support and participation of key partners, including The Coca-Cola Foundation, IDRC, AfriLabs, ANDE, and the Impact Investors Foundation.
What happened at Conecta Africa?
1. We identified structural challenges and opportunities for improvement within the African ecosystem:
The Summit fostered an honest and constructive dialogue on current gaps within the ecosystem, including coordination, funding, capabilities, scale, and inclusion. Participants jointly explored opportunities for improvement to strengthen the ecosystem’s effectiveness, collaboration, and regional reach.
2. We promoted the exchange of practical knowledge among stakeholders in the African ecosystem:
Through collaborative working groups, participants identified common challenges and highlighted solutions already being implemented across the ecosystem, with the aim of inspiring concrete actions that could be replicated in other contexts.
3. We highlighted success stories from the African ecosystem:
The Summit included a panel featuring leading organisations in innovation and regional collaboration, positioning key ecosystem actors as important contributors to strengthening entrepreneurship across Africa. Entrepreneurs supported by Bridge for Billions were also present, including Imisi Health, as one example of the ventures represented during the Summit.
4. We facilitated strategic connections between key stakeholders:
The Summit provided networking opportunities and round-table discussions that enabled key stakeholders to build relationships and explore meaningful partnerships.
About Conecta: A global community of ESOs transforming local ecosystems
Entrepreneurship Support Organizations (ESOs) drove innovation, powered local businesses, and fueled social and economic growth. Yet, they continued to face unstable funding, fragmented support, and restrictive policies that limited their impact. Unlocking early-stage entrepreneurship required overcoming these barriers.
Conecta had grown into a global community of leaders strengthening local ecosystems of support for early-stage entrepreneurs. Through collaboration, technology, and strategic partnerships, Conecta helped ESOs scale their impact sustainably.
After becoming the most ambitious ecosystem-building community in Latin America, with 38 ESOs and 1,050 entrepreneurs incubated, Conecta expanded to Africa.
As part of this work, Bridge for Billions also published The Landscape of Entrepreneurship Support in Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa, a report exploring the state of entrepreneurship support across these ecosystems:
Summit Highlights
- The Summit brought together up to 100 ecosystem leaders from across Africa and created space for dialogue to foster joint initiatives between the public and private sectors to promote innovation.
- Participants helped shape a shared vision for resilient and inclusive entrepreneurship.
- The Summit marked the launch of Conecta Africa, a Pan-African ecosystem-building initiative that brought together 14 ESOs from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Malawi to co-design and deliver one of the continent’s largest early-stage incubation efforts, supporting over 1,000 entrepreneurs at the same time.
- The Summit also featured the presentation of the Healthcare Ecosystem Landscape Study by Strathmore University and the Situational Study of the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Africa by ANDE.
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Conecta is an initiative led by Bridge for Billions that seeks to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem worldwide through the training of incubators and the support of industry leaders.
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