Health & Resilience

Startup Discovery School Africa

Leveling the playing field for climate tech founders

A candid shot of a person riding a motorcycle on a dirt road sunny day. The man is wearing a black motorcycle helmet and has a beige bag hanging across his chest, on his right side. The background is blurred, with palm fronds hanging above and behind the motorcyclist.
Image courtesy of 3Farmate, Startup Discovery School Africa

Startup Discovery School Africa's mission

Startup Discovery School Africa (SDS Africa) equips, nurtures, and funds entrepreneurs who are building climate adaptation and mitigation solutions across West Africa for a true just transition.

Autodesk Foundation Climate Adaptation & Resilience Investment Lead Beth Foster-Chao and SDS Africa Co-Founder Mandy Nyarko engage with the SDS Africa team over dinner.

Powered by Sahara Impact Ventures

Sahara Impact Ventures is a gender lens venture capital fund that invests in pre-series A businesses that are tackling the climate change and wider inequality emergencies in Africa. Its support allows the SDSA Venture Studio to deploy capital to cohorts, providing catalytic funding for ventures to scale and drive impact into rural communities and micro, small, and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs).

Headshot image of Mandy Nyarko, MBE, Managing Partner, Sahara Impact Ventures

“The collaboration with the Autodesk Foundation is game-changing for the West African climate technology startup ecosystem. The support these emerging companies will receive through this partnership is catalytic to their growth.”

– Mandy Nyarko, MBE, Co-Founder of Startup Discovery School Africa & Managing Partner of Sahara Impact Ventures

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