After a successful first iteration in 2024, Création Africa South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi is back to support and scale up cultural entrepreneurs in South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi.
The project is looking for an incubator (or consortium of entities) to support, train, and coach selected cultural entrepreneurs in their innovation and development journeys through an incubation and coaching programme.
The programme will run from November 2025 to October 2026, starting with the selection of 50 entrepreneurs, followed by a coaching phase from February to March 2026, and an incubation phase from April to October 2026 for the 15 selected cultural entrepreneurs.
The selected incubator(s) will play an essential role in the success of this project by providing holistic support: training, mentoring, resources (facilities such as internet connection, coworking space and any other help relevant to the success of this project), access to investors/investment funds and an environment conducive to the growth and sustainability of entrepreneurs in the CCIs. The aim is to be at the intersection of business and culture and to be able to tackle this duality: economic (generating wealth and employment) and cultural (generating values, meaning and identity).
This project is coordinated by the Embassy of France in South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi and the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS), the cultural arm of the Embassy with the support of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
The total budget allocated for the incubator(s) selected for Création Africa: South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi stands at 250,000 EUR to 305,000 EUR. The budget allocation will be based on the offer and the expertise needed; consortiums may apply to work together on this project. If one entity cannot fulfil the requirements, the project coordinators may decide to work with two incubators and split the roles.
