Deadline: November 15, 2026
Are you an African start-up building a technology-driven venture in dairy or aquaculture? Are you ready to scale your impact and attract investment? Apply for the SAIS Livestock Investment Readiness Programme 2027.
The SAIS Livestock Investment Readiness Programme supports innovative African start-ups developing solutions across dairy, aquaculture and livestock value chains, with a particular focus on animal nutrition and feed, genetics, animal health and sustainable production.
Benefits
A one-year, tailor-made support programme including:
- Up to €15,000 in technical assistance budget for consultancies, expert support, legal advice, online marketing, licenses, certifications, ESG governance, product optimisation, market entry strategies, customer acquisition & sales campaigns, marketing & PR, graphic design, employee training, and more.
- Fully sponsored trips to two in-person community events back-to-back with the Sankalp Africa Summit in Nairobi (February of each year), and one additional sector conference.
- Investment and partnership facilitation through invite-only pitch sessions with a curated network of investors, bespoke introductions to investors & funds, guidance on fundraising strategy and due diligence.
- A community of 100+ portfolio companies.
Additional opportunities for eligible start-ups:
- SAIS Scale-up Grant of up to €40,000 that supports start-ups from the SAIS community that are ready to scale their market reach and deepen their impact.
- Access to revolving working capital loans of up to €50,000 with 9-month maturity at 1.5% interest.
Eligibility
- Open to for-profit and registered in Africa
- Management team of at least two people
- Pre-seed through Series A
- At least MVP, ideally recurring revenue, paying customers and established partnerships
- Strengthening value chains in dairy and aquaculture
- Use tech to scale
They are looking for innovative, technology-driven start-ups strengthening livestock value chains across Africa, with a particular focus on:
- Dairy: Animal health, genetics, feed and forage, particularly relevant to dairy value chains in East Africa (Kenya and Ethiopia).
- Aquaculture: Genetics and feed innovations, particularly relevant to aquaculture value chains in West Africa (Nigeria and Senegal).
Start-ups based in other African countries are equally encouraged to apply, these must prove that their innovations, solutions or business models offer relevant learnings or opportunities to strengthen these priority value chains.
Application
For more information, visit SAIS Livestock Investment Readiness Programme.
