2025 SIBC BOOTCAMP  – 37 women entrepreneurs gathered in Côte d’Ivoire to maximize their social and environmental impact!

For the first time in the history of the Social and Inclusive Business Camp (SIBC), the bootcamp was held in Côte d’Ivoire from 2 to 8 April 2025. Historically organized in Marseille, this intensive and immersive event aims to make participants and partners live transformational experiences to multiply their desire and capacity for action.

For one week, the 37 entrepreneurs from 17 countries in Africa attended inspiring sessions to facilitate their scaling and fundraising. They also consolidated their networks, thanks to networking evenings and a day entirely dedicated to meetings with investors. They have also and above all exchanged and created interpersonal and professional links between them, which are essential in the life of an entrepreneur.

7 DAYS TO INITIATE CHANGES AND SELF CHANGES!

Day 1 – GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER | A day of cohesion, commitment and interknowledge built around an activity in the service of the planet: clean up, raise awareness and reflect together on the impact of plastic waste on ecosystems.

Day 2 – INSPIRING | A day dedicated to sisterhood, feminist leadership and sharing experiences. The winners experienced the forum theatre to share gender discrimination suffered as women entrepreneurs. This workshop created a space for unfiltered discussions around prejudice, self-assertion and the realities of feminist entrepreneurship.

Day 3 – SCALING | A day to maximize its social and environmental impact. The entrepreneurs explored all the levers of a successful change of scale: leadership, team structuring, modeling, financing strategy, social impact measurement… as many keys to develop its structure.

Day 4 – PITCHING | The day started with a pitch workshop followed by a shooting session, where each went in front of the camera to pitch their project and communicate in a simple and attractive way.

Day 5 – COOPERATING | In the presence of all program partners, the winners shared challenges encountered in the area of scaling and fundraising. Thanks to the mobilization of all experts, and to collective intelligence, the winners left with concrete tracks, new ideas and solutions adapted to their realities.

Day 6 – FUNDRAISING | Because there is no bootcamp without fundraising preparation, the winners had a chance to dig deeper. At the workshop, reverse pitch and a networking evening to connect with impact investors.

Day 7 – MEETING INVESTORS | Speed-meeting investor-entrepreneur. Held on the final day to allow our participants to identify funding opportunities and prepare for their fundraising. In total, 150 meetings took place and more than 30 investors were mobilized!

RENEWED INTENTIONS FOR A LIVING ECONOMY

The 2024-25 edition of SIBC was built around a living economy, with a strong focus on cooperation and interdependence in revitalized ecosystems. Motivated by the need to anchor SIBC more than it was on the African continent and to mobilize local ecosystems, the AFD Group Campus made the choice:

• Organize the selection phase of the programme in Africa. In total, 5 face-to-face juries were held in 5 countries in Africa (Tunisia, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar and South Africa) and mobilized more than 200 examiners to participate in the selection of the 2024-25 promotion;
• To better adapt the training content to African contexts and to mobilize African-based trainers.
• Organize the bootcamp in Africa to connect women entrepreneurs with each other at scale.