Photograph — IETP

Miarakap, an impact investment company dedicated to financing and supporting high-potential small and medium-sized enterprises in Madagascar, and I&P Acceleration Technologies, a program dedicated to African digital startups led by Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P), are partnering with Sayna, the first African Edtech and crowdsourcing platform.

The program I&P Acceleration Technologies, launched at the end of 2019, has already financed and supported five African digital startups, in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Madagascar. With Sayna, a Malagasy startup committed to African youth and focused on vocational training and the integration of young people into the job market, the program now adds the sixth company to its portfolio.

Launched in 2018, Sayna aims to address a twofold challenge; providing quality training in the digital sector in Africa, which is still too rare on the continent and offering professional opportunities to young people by bridging the gap between the growing demand of companies on digital issues and the supply of digital talent in Africa (Front-end Developer, Back-end Developer, Tester, etc.). 

Miarakap and I&P Acceleration Technologies will provide Sayna with financial, technical and organizational support to amplify its impact and develop the two pillars of its strategy: the online training platform and the “microtasking” platform

The company pursues two main objectives by 2024; to enable 8,000 people in Africa to enter the digital industry through Sayna’s training programs and to get more than 3,500 people working on the micro-tasking platform by meeting the IT needs of more than 300 SMEs and start-ups in the French-speaking world.

Matina Razafimahefa, co-founder and CEO of Sayna, commented: “As a team, we are very proud of what we have accomplished so far. Our successes and failures have allowed us to truly understand our market so that we can now offer a solution that can truly reinvent access to the job market for junior developers. The best is ahead of us!

Emmanuel Cotsoyannis, co-founder and CEO of Miarakap, added, “We have been watching Sayna since its inception and have recently encouraged Matina in its strategic pivot towards a 100 percent online product, meeting both the training needs of thousands of potential learners and those of companies looking for efficient and responsible outsourcing solutions. The financing from I&P Acceleration Technologies is a real opportunity and we hope it will allow Miarakap to provide additional capital funding to scale up this project.”

The program I&P Acceleration Technologies, which is supported by AFD through the initiative Digital Africa, pursues its deployment. The program’s mission is to contribute to the emergence of the first African digital startups in countries where financing solutions are still scarce and to finance around ten entrepreneurs, giving them access to appropriate financing and skills. 

David Munnich, Executive Director of I&P Acceleration and I&P Development said, “The program’s deployment is progressing well, with six companies in the portfolio, and we are proud to support companies with strong growth and impact potential like Sayna. The company’s original approach, which is highly adapted to local conditions and needs, and the exceptional tech and digital skills of the project leaders, have convinced us.” 

About I&P Acceleration Technologies

I&P Acceleration Technologies is deployed by Investisseurs & Partenaires, a pioneering impact investing group entirely dedicated to financing and supporting startups and medium-sized enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa. This €2,5 million program, supported by the French Development Agency through the initiative Digital Africa, aims to support about 10 digital startups in Sub-Saharan Africa, giving them access to financing and appropriate skills. I&P Acceleration Technologies intends to contribute to the emergence of the first African digital startups in countries where financing solutions are still scarce.

About Miarakap

Miarakap is an impact investment company dedicated to financing and supporting high-potential small and medium-sized enterprises in Madagascar. Miarakap provides active and personalized support according to the specific needs of each company: formalizing management, strengthening the organization, increasing technical and managerial skills, accelerating business development. Beyond the financial objectives, Miarakap’s mission is also to support companies that generate positive social, economic and environmental impacts.

About Sayna

Sayna is the first French-speaking African Edtech and crowdsourcing platform. Their platform allows, thanks to a game-oriented course, to learn computer development from beginner to expert level at a very attractive price. At each validated key level, the student has the possibility to switch to freelance IT micro-jobs corresponding to his/her acquired level. SAYNA’s crowdsourcing platform manages, organizes and splits its customers’ IT projects by putting the right developer in front of the right task, ensuring code security, speed of execution thanks to dozens of developers working on the same project.

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