The seventh edition of Sankalp Africa Summit, expected to engage over 1,000 different stakeholders from across the development sector ecosystem, to discuss, define, and drive forward the critical levers of entrepreneurial success for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), will be held at Kenya School of Monetary Studies in Nairobi, Kenya.
This year’s summit, scheduled to take place on February 27 and 28, 2020, is themed ‘Collaborate 2030: Scaling Enterpreneurship for the Global Goals’ and will revolve around the Sustainable Development Goals and how various partners (public, private, donors, NGOs etc.) can work together to achieve these goals.
The Sankalp Africa Summit aims to bring together entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, corporates, academics, policy makers, and other thought-leaders from around the globe to drive the agenda on sustainable development. The Summit will help drive exciting discussions, structured in various formats like master classes and panel sessions, fireside chats and workshops, global leaders speeches to address key topics areas like financing towards attaining the SDGs, building sustainable impact-based enterprises, forging collaborative partnerships, and imagining the future beyond the goals themselves.
According to Vikas Bali, Intellecap CEO: “We are very excited to bring the 7th edition of Sankalp to Nairobi and continuing the dialogue with our partners on how to achieve SDGs for Africa by 2030. The summit aims to create innovative and collaborative approaches with promising entrepreneurs, global thought leaders, leading foundations, socially conscious corporates and an attending trillion dollar investor community who are committed to making a substantial contribution towards driving a sustainable and inclusive agenda for Africa.”
The summit will also witness some our key global partners like British High Commission and Microsoft, coming together to help achieve the SDGs , with each of them lending specific perspective and insight.
The British High Commission in Nairobi channels significant support towards building the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, through grant funding, technical support and commercial networks. Susie Kitchens, Deputy High Commissioner, said: “The British High Commission looks forward to engaging with entrepreneurs, enablers and investors at the Summit. Sankalp is a great opportunity for Kenya’s thriving innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, providing a platform to showcase adaptable, sustainable solutions to local issues and stimulate innovation, investment and scale. I hope that partnerships made at the Summit lead to the development of strong enterprises, job creation and real, inclusive impact.
Microsoft, another key partner to the Summit, will look at building programmes for entrepreneurship and enabling them with significant technology led support. As Amrote, Regional Director for Microsoft4Africa explains: “Microsoft is proud to be a part of the Summit and we would like to engage in a dynamic conversation with entrepreneurs. At Microsoft, we are at the forefront of building a collaborative ecosystem for entrepreneurs and a sustainable business environment. As partners of this summit, we will be sharing with entrepreneurs cutting edge technology tools that will empower them as they grow and scale their enterprises”
Another key part of the summit is the Sankalp Africa Awards which aims to recognize and reward high impact enterprises in the Africa region. Five finalists from key impact sectors across the region will get the opportunity to pitch their enterprises to a jury panel comprising of eminent business leaders.
Sankalp Forum was initiated in India in 2009 by Intellecap, part of the Aavishkaar-Intellecap Group, to create an ecosystem for business-led inclusive development. Over the past 11 years, Sankalp has built one of the world’s largest impact enterprise focused platforms that has showcased and discovered over 1600 entrepreneurs, covering over 22 editions while connecting over 300 investors. Sankalp have enabled enterprises and entrepreneurs to raise over $270 million in funding. Sankalp Forum engages with governments, corporations, influential platforms like the G8 and G20, media and civil society to drive a paradigm shift in inclusive development approaches.
The 4Afrika Initiative is Microsoft’s business and market development engine in Africa. Launched in 2013, it aims to unlock and accelerate Africa’s potential to create technology not only for the continent, but for the world. In seven years, the 4Afrika initiative has reached 1,7 million small and medium businesses, supported more than 300 startups, 12 accelerator partnerships, upskilled 108,000 Africans in Microsoft Cloud Society, placed 926 interns with 176 partners with an 85 percent retention rate, and produced 2,073 graduates from 19 Skills Labs, with an 85 percent employment rate. The initiative has been recognised by the International Finance Corporation as a best practice example of developing skills in sub-Saharan Africa.
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