The Chamber set up an assistance unit aimed at welcoming and guiding diaspora's entrepreneurs-to-be
The Chamber has set up a small unit aimed at welcoming and assisting start-up projects emanating from the African diaspora.
At the initiative of the CDE and thanks to the encouragement and the financial support of the Belgian Ministry of Cooperation and Development (DGCD), the Chamber can now offer a concrete contribution to the efforts of the members of the diaspora who are willing to start up a venture in their home country.
It is open to candidates-entrepreneurs who have the skills, the professional experience and the start-up funds required by their project. Generally speaking, they would be looking for some kind of assistance from specialized institutions such as CDE or BIO. However, both institutions are saturated by requests improperly structured and they cannot allocate enough human resources to cope with them. Hence, the idea to capture and channel spontaneous requests to a specialized desk.
The objective of the Diaspora Assistance Unit is thus to identify projects eligible to an assistance of CDE (non financial aid) or BIO ( subsidies and financing) and to help promoters formatting their requests in a complete and appropriate manner so that they have the best chances of convincing the selection committees of either institution.
The role of the unit is twofold: welcoming entrepreneurs-to-be and selecting eligible projects. Notwithstanding the fact that not all projects are realistic, all promoters will be given attention. Applicants submitting a project lacking the key success criteria will be given information on the indispensable pre-requisites of a viable project and advised on how to envisage a professional future in line with their background.
The Chamber is ideally placed to facilitate meetings between Belgian enterprises with experience in Africa and young African entrepreneurs. The Diaspora Assistance Unit will stimulate contacts between them with a neutral and professional position. Belgian enterprises are kindly invited to transmit business proposals which could possibly match start-up projects submitted by the diaspora.