Through the Orange Corners Innovation Fund (OCIF), we support young entrepreneurs to scale their businesses, create jobs and address local social challenges. OCIF is an extension of the Orange Corners incubation and acceleration programmes, designed to address the financing needs of young entrepreneurs in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. By providing selected local fund managers with capital, OCIF enables investments in Orange Corners entrepreneurs who are often deemed too high-risk by traditional funding sources.
OCIF bridges the financing gap for these early-stage impact startups through seed funding in the form of (soft) loans and grants. The programme features two financing tracks and offers extensive technical assistance and capacity building to help these enterprises scale their businesses, improve investment readiness and attract follow-up funding, ensuring sustainable growth.
Launched in 2019, OCIF is expanding to 21 countries in 2024 and will continue until at least 2030.
OCIF consists of 2 tracks.
Track 1*:
- Is available to most entrepreneurs of the Orange Corners incubation and acceleration programmes in the OCIF countries plus Tunisia;
- Is granted as a prototype voucher and monthly allowance;
- Up to a maxmum of €5,000,- per entrepreneur.
Track 2*:
- 3-5 entrepreneurs are selected at the end of each cohort by means of a pitch competition, assessed by an expert jury;
- Gives access per entrepreneur to a maximum amount of €50,000 startup seed funding, consisting of partly a grant and partly a loan;
- Offers besides seed funding, further business development support for a period of 12 – 18 months.
* Funding structure and modalities vary per local context
For more information, please contact the OCIF team via the contact form below.
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