Israel Ethiopia Innovation Challenge
On December 7th the Pears Program for Global Innovation in partnership with the Entrepreneurship Development Centre in Ethiopia hosted the final pitch and networking session of the Israel Ethiopia Innovation Challenge where 10 finalists pitched to a panel of Israeli ventures to win a trip to Israel. Take a look a the winning venture EthioGreen. The event was organised as part of a delegation of Israeli investors who visited Ethiopia with the goal of setting up a investment fund to invest in Ethiopia and included a Start-Up bootcamp at Bahar Dar University. Contact us for more information. Take a look at some pictures from the event here.

Bringing the Start-Up Nation to Ghana
The Pears Program recently partnered with the Israeli Embassy to Ghana, conducting and innovation workshop for the Muslim community of Accra and speaking at Impact Hub in Accra about how Ghana could become the "Start Up Nation of West Africa" Take a look at some of the pictures or read about it here.

Affordable Healthcare Forum
The Pears Program recently launched an Affordable Healthcare Forum for Israeli start-ups and companies targeting Africa and Asia. The Forum kicked of with a discussion on financing affordable healthcare technologies for emerging markets. The event, organized in cooperation with the Israel Export Institute, included a discussion with Mr. Stephen Sammut, from the Wharton School of Business. During his career, he has founded, managed or financed over 40 companies in health care, life sciences, education etc. If you are startup or company in the affordable healthcare sector looking at emerging markets - contact us for more information about upcoming meetups.

Sankalp Africa Summit 2016
February 25-26, 2016, Nairobi, Kenya
"Spurring the Entrepreneurship Economy"
Sankalp Africa Summit brings together key foundations, donors, corporations and government officials supporting entrepreneurship for development. Sankalp Forum,has convened over 1200 diverse stakeholder groups in Africa with the intent to create an ecosystem approach to enterprise-led development. We invite you to participate in this exciting movement. For more information and registration.

Global Sankalp Summit 2016
April 20-22, 2016 Mumbai, India
Global Sankalp Summit is one of the largest events in the world on entrepreneurship for development. It convenes a diverse set of stakeholders – from entrepreneurs and investors, to family foundations and large multi-national corporations, and from local angel investors to international investors. Next year, Sankalp is coming together to focus on how each of us can individually and collectively help businesses succeed for development. For more information and registration

Barclays Accelerator, powered by Techstars
Application deadline 3rd January 2016.
A 13-week programme designed to fast-track the next generation of FinTech businesses. The accelerator offers access to the two powerful networks of Barclays and Techstars, investment of up to $120,000, access to influential partners such as Thomson Reuters, Cisco and AXA, and mentoring from industry experts. Find out more and Apply

Future Agro Challenge- Applications are now open!
A global competition for agritech innovation.
The world's population is expected to grow to 9 billion people by 2050. Feeding the population through an increase of food production and agricultural productivity while reducing the environmental damage is a primary challenge of the 21st century. The competition will take place in simultaneously in more than 40 countries, with national winners competing for the opportunity to participate in the finals held as part of Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Medellin, Colombia. Learn more and apply.

Applications open to The Global Innovation Fund
GIF invests in social innovations that aim to improve the lives and opportunities of millions of people in the developing world. Through grants and risk capital, it supports breakthrough solutions with strong potential for social impact at a large scale. Financial support ranges from $50,000 to $15 million. GIF welcomes applicants to propose innovative, cost-effective solutions that address any major development challenge in any country (or in multiple countries) in the developing world. Anyone may apply, including teams from social enterprises, for-profit companies, non-profit organisations, government agencies, international organisations, and researchers in any country.
Learn more and apply here.

The Glocal Community-Development Studies program, Hebrew University of Jerusalem is accepting applications.
The program is an innovative M.A focusing on social and economic development. The 18-month program aims to provide students with academic theory and background, as well as the professional skills and tools to work with communities across the globe. An integral part of the program is a four months internship with an international NGO in a developing country, held during the third semester of the program. Read more and apply here.

Smallholder Farmers and Big Business: 5 Insights from the Field
Modern agricultural practices and new technologies have transformed the productivity and lives of large farmers, but often fail to reach small and very small farmers for a variety of reasons. Some pioneer companies and organizations across the world have sustainably increased the income and livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers, by sourcing produce from them or selling products to them. The study “Smallholder Farmers and Business: 15 Pioneering Collaborations for Improved Productivity and Sustainability” compares the performance of 15 successful companies and organizations worldwide and has drawn several counter-intuitive insights.
More information and insights on creating more wealth along the value chain, running cost-efficient operations and sharing value back with farmers sustainably, can be found on Hystra’s report “Smallholder Farmers and Business.”

One in three African investors exited one or more investments
Recently VC4Africa reached out to investors for a new edition of the annual ‘Venture Finance in Africa’ research. This survey, reaching over 125 investors, includes business angels, venture capital firms, social impact funds and other investors and firms investing in African startups. The survey included the questions: Have you exited one or more of your investments? And the answers given can certainly make us hopeful: one in three investors (32%) disclosed their investments led to one or more exits. And of these investors with exits, 14% disclosed their investments led to more than five exits already. This means there are many more African startup exits than is often thought. Want to know more?