About EMpact
EMpact is a venture studio serving critical value chains in frontier markets by addressing chronic issues afflicting these markets and affecting our planet. EMpact drives change through the incubation of talent, then creating and incubating businesses that address the needs of key players in these value chains with focus on agriculture. The final step in this venture studio model is to extend pre-seed equity funding to the budding startups, handhold them through the initial phase of their growth journey, and then - over time - hand them over to later stage investors.
Agri value chains are critical for the future of the world.
Most of the economic value in critical value chains accrues toward the top, with frontier markets, who typically provide the raw material that feeds and fuels the world, are left with almost no value at all.
Additionally, climate change is nearing at a tipping point, and the biggest impact is coming from how humans cultivate land, transport material, and consume goods. Farming can become the solution versus the problem, by shifting to regenerative practices that capture carbon, eliminate soil erosion, reduce irrigation requirements, improve yield, and eliminate the use of harmful chemicals
EMpact addresses both these critical issues facing frontier markets and the world by creating local solutions and startups that address the needs and painpoints of key players in the global agriculture value chains through harnessing technology, innovation, and cross-border collaboration.
Talent Incubator
- With capacity building partners, support talent building in hard skills like coding, business management skills, governance and mental health
- Supported by academic institutions, corporates, technology companies and mentors
- Focus on women and young individuals
Business Incubator
- Invite corporate partners to sponsor problems to be solved within the theme
- Create ideas, solutions and pre-seed startups to address pain points
- Continuous business training
Business Accelerator
- Extend seed capital to the startups
- Close hand holding to launch and grow the business
- Plug & Play shared services platform to help teams focus on core
- Over time, handover to growth fund or founders
EMpact co-develops platforms with our partners to drive sustainable innovation for local economies in frontier markets
Our unique approach brings together four types of partners around our own incubation and iteration model designed to create meaningful and scalable solutions to real problems
As an EMpact Fellow you:
- Get into an 8-week Boot Camp to give you essential entrepreneurship training, making sure that you are ready for the incubation phase
- Start a full-time 90-day talent incubation program designed and delivered jointly with our local capacity building partners
- Enter into the 9-month long business incubation piece where you lead or join other teams building solutions for EMpact corporate partners
- Pitch your team solution to the EMpact Investment Committee for pre-seed funding our your startup and commence operations
We are live in Guatemala, serving our first frontier market of Central America.
NEXT is Côte d’Ivoire, serving our second frontier market of Francophone West Africa. AND more to follow