Start-up funding organisation Venture Capital 4 Africa (VC4A) has introduced an online learning platform designed to offer distance learning programmes to next-generation entrepreneurs who want to take their businesses to the next level.
According to the company, the VC4A Start-up Academy offers direct access to expertise proven to work for successful entrepreneurs operating across Africa. Business owners can take their business to the next level by learning about the latest insights, and download tools and listen to advice from 35 experts who are active in the emerging African start-up ecosystem.
The online community platform is broken down into three learning courses, each focused on a different life-stage of a business.
The Start Your Businesses Course introduces participants to main themes to consider during the founding stage of a start-up.
Course two is Grow Your Business, which covers what is needed after a start-up finds its feet and is ready to scale up. The third phase is the Finance Your Business course, which introduces different funding concepts and tips on how to raise capital.
Ben White, founder of VC4A, explains: "We are committed to helping entrepreneurs enhance their capabilities by providing knowledge and expertise that will empower them to successfully grow their business.
"Industry insiders pass on wisdom earned over the course of their careers as they've built companies, invested in start-ups, and raised venture capital. With this academy, we are working to unlock this knowledge in a way that makes it more accessible to a new generation of founders coming up across the continent."
Graduates from the VC4A Start-up Academy gain access to the VC4A mentorship marketplace, select start-up opportunities and fundraising tools.
The courses are integrated with theory and expert content which is presented by Andile Masuku, host of African Tech Roundup, and among the experts are the likes of Tomi Davies of the Lagos Angel Network, and Rebecca Enonchong of the African Business Angel Network, notes the company.
The academy is designed as a self-learning tool, but at the same time it says it is working with a pan-African network of partners to integrate the online curriculum into incubator and accelerator programmes, offering a blended learning experience which combines the online content with face-to-face discussions hosted at the local start-up hubs.
After each module, participants can test their learning by taking a quiz and unlocking a personalised certificate that can be downloaded, and recognises the entrepreneur for successfully completing the course.
Headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, VC4A is a community of business professionals in 159 countries dedicated to building game-changing companies on the African continent. Established in 2007, the organisation provides funding and mentorship programmes to businesses in collaboration with a growing network of partners.
The VC4A Start-up Academy has been developed as a fundamental pillar of the 'Work in Progress! Organisation. Funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the project aims to enable young women and men in Egypt, Nigeria and Somalia to generate sustainable and living incomes by finding regular employment or starting enterprises, according to VC4A.
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