Financially supporting young companies in the COVID-19 pandemic
Project description
Title: Empowering Entrepreneurship Initiative (EEI)
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya and Mexico
Overall term: 2020 to 2021
Context
In recent years, German development cooperation has been increasingly supporting innovative young enterprises in developing countries and emerging economies. It develops solutions for local challenges there and creates jobs and prospects.
The short-term and medium-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have put many of these companies at risk. Only a few countries have been able to support their economies with extensive bailouts, as was the case in Germany. As a result, a large number of young enterprises experienced financial difficulties and their existence was threatened by drops in sales, staff shortages and border closures.
In order to maintain these companies and jobs, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has supported them with an emergency COVID-19 support programme.
Objective
Young, innovative companies can secure their existence and numerous jobs.
Approach
In total, the project has supported 330 teams of young, innovative companies in Egypt, Ghana, Jordan, Indonesia, Mexico and Kenya. The offer included mentoring, workshops, network building and direct financial support.
Most of the supported businesses have weathered the COVID-19 pandemic well with the help of this needs-based programme. A large number of young entrepreneurs report that the survival of their ventures has been secured, incomes increased and jobs maintained, and express a high level of satisfaction with the programme as a whole.
The Empowering Entrepreneurship Initiative (EEI) was developed and piloted in 2020 in cooperation with the Regional Office East of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, and implemented by enpact e.V. thanks to a subsidy it received. Two COVID-19 emergency relief programmes were launched as part of this initiative: the ‘COVID-19 Relief Programme’ and the ‘COVID-19 Relief Programme for Tourism’, which enpact e.V. successfully implemented. For the second programme, enpact cooperated with the TUI Care Foundation.
Last update: January 2023