AfDB Approves €6.5 Million to Back Tech Start-Ups in West and Central Africa

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved a €6.5 million investment in the Saviu II fund to support technology start-ups across Francophone West and Central Africa.

Under the arrangement, the Bank will provide €4.5 million in equity investment and an additional €2 million as a first-loss hedging tranche on behalf of the European Commission through the Boost Africa Programme.

The funding will enable Saviu II; the second investment vehicle managed by Saviu Partners to prioritise businesses with strong technological or digital components. The fund plans to invest between €500,000 and €3 million in approximately 20 seed-stage or early institutional fundraising B2B technology start-ups.

The initiative is aimed at strengthening innovation ecosystems and expanding access to early-stage capital for emerging tech entrepreneurs in the region.

Given Africa’s long history of dependence on external financing and the consistent reliance of many of its leaders on foreign aid, it is reasonable to question whether even promising initiatives such as this are ultimately anchored in outside support, possibly from traditional partners like France or other European actors.

While international partnerships are not inherently negative, a pattern in which major development efforts are routinely underwritten by external donors raises deeper concerns about sustainability and autonomy.

Africa cannot credibly pursue economic independence while structurally tying its most strategic initiatives to funding from the same global powers often criticised for perpetuating dependency.

True transformation requires stronger domestic resource mobilisation, accountable financial governance, and bold investment strategies driven primarily by African capital and priorities. Without that shift, development risks remaining externally influenced rather than internally anchored; ambitious in rhetoric, but limited in sovereignty.