African Entrepreneur Collective
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Mission Statement
AEC’s mission is to build thriving communities by supporting African micro and small businesses, including refugee-owned, with business advisory, access to finance, market linkages and supply chain integration, and advancing inclusion.
About This Cause
AEC believes that entrepreneurship is the solution to building thriving communities. When AEC was founded, our Theory of Change was that when African entrepreneurs have access to practical services focused on business growth and access to meaningful resources, they will improve their own livelihoods and jobs in their communities. Since 2012, AEC has supported nearly 33,000 MSMEs, including refugee-owned, with business advisory and access to low-cost finance, across East Africa, and our results have proven that our model is impactful at affecting business growth, job creation, and livelihood improvement -- 25,654 new jobs created, $52M in new revenue generated, 97% on-time investment repayment, 240% increase in household spending, etc. Building on our experience and learnings, AEC has added to our Theory of Change from individual impact to large-scale community wealth creation, taking success at the household level and driving to greater development at the community level. AEC's new Theory of Change is that when micro and small business owners have skills and access to finance, are operating in integrated markets, with policies that inclusively engage all actors, then communities will thrive. To do this: 1) we will provide practical business advisory services and below-market rate financing so that refugee entrepreneurs can grow their businesses to generate wealth and create jobs; 2) we will strengthen these markets by creating refugee/host linkages and supporting connections to larger supply chains; and 3) we will advance inclusion by hiring staff from and working with entrepreneurs in marginalized communities, including refugees, and use our experience and data to advocate for inclusive policies for refugees in their host communities By 2030, AEC will serve over half a million micro and small businesses, including refugee-owned, and invest directly $150M USD in communities across 8 countries in Africa; creating 825,000 new jobs and improving the lives of nearly 7.6 million people; leading to thriving communities.