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African Entrepreneur Collective
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Co-Founded with Julienne Oyler
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2015 Global Fellow
bold idea
Mitigate the epidemic of youth unemployment in Africa by providing training, affordable capital, and networks to young entrepreneurs.
organization overview
African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC) is a collection of incubators, accelerators, and investment funds supporting young entrepreneurs in Africa. AEC’s goal is simple: support local African entrepreneurs by providing them the capacity building, mentorship, and direct financing so that they can grow their enterprises to create jobs in their communities. Since launching in Rwanda in 2013, AEC has several brands under the AEC umbrella. AEC’s signature program, Inkomoko Business Development, works with 100 entrepreneurs annually, and their Kiva-backed loan fund, AEC Rwanda Trustee Ltd, provides direct financing to entrepreneurs. Through these entities and more, AEC has helped create more than 700 jobs.
Personal Bio
Sara Leedom is the co-founder of African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC), and serves as the managing director of its Rwandan affiliate, Inkomoko Business Development. Sara manages Inkomoko’s in-country operations, staff, and client services, working with them to grow their capacity to create jobs. Sara has spent two decades working with a range of social enterprise organizations from affordable housing to HIV services – all with the theme of supporting disenfranchised communities and populations to create their own pathways forward, a vision and philosophy that is present in AEC’s work with entrepreneurs to create change in their own communities. Prior to moving to Rwanda, Sara was a Shell Foundation Fellow, working with IntelleGrow (Mumbai) on venture debt financing. Sara has been a consultant to tech start-ups at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology in Accra, and was the Ghana portfolio director for the SBS Venture Fund. Sara has an MBA from University of Oxford, where she chaired the Oxford Business Network for Africa, and she is passionate about the potential exhibited by African youth.
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Impact Location ?
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Organization Structure ?
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