Pangea Blue Economy Accelerator Program // Apply before 29th August

Pangea Blue Economy Accelerator Program // Apply before 29th August

Apply today for Pangea’s Blue Economy program and become part of growing the aquaculture sector in Kenya. The Program is expected to build capacity and inject investment into Blue economy startups from Africa.

The ‘Blue Economy’ is an emerging concept that encourages better stewardship of our ocean or ‘blue’ resources. It relates to the sustainable use and conservation of aquatic resources to drive economic growth, improve livelihoods and create jobs while ensuring the protection of our environment, cultural values, and biodiversity.

Kenya has an abundance of untapped maritime resources along its coast and Innovation should be at the core of its sustainability transition into the Blue Economy sectors. Entrepreneurs and start-ups play a key role in these innovation processes through exploring innovative business models which can address environmental threats within the Blue Economy. Entrepreneurs can be the leading actors in transforming ecological challenges into economic opportunities while developing innovative and viable sustainable business models.

To enable and spread eco-innovative ideas and practices as well as leverage the potential of sustainable business models for the Blue Economy, Norwegian-based accelerator Pangea has unveiled Kenya’s first-ever Blue Economy accelerator program. The move is aimed at advancing a sustainable blue economy ecosystem in Kenya as a vehicle for economic development and growth through the creation of jobs and reduction of poverty.

The program, now open for application until 29th August 2021 is designed to support start-ups that focus on aquaculture, maritime and security, and innovative industries. Other sectors of interest are cold chain logistics, oceanic waste management, blue carbon, finance/fintech, blue energy, digital solutions, and seafood products.

Blue economy reaffirms the values of the Commonwealth, including equity and public participation in marine and coastal decision-making and supports United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG14 ‘life below water’ which calls on the global community to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development”.

About the Pangea Blue economy accelerator program

Speaking during the launch, Pangea CEO Jonas Tesfu said, “the program is expected to build capacity and inject investment into Blue economy startups from Africa tackling the greatest opportunities and challenges in the sector. Our mission is to reshape the way the Blue Economy is run in Africa by supporting innovative solutions and ecosystem building together with government, investors, and the private sector.”

Successful applicants of the Pangea Blue economy accelerator program will be connected with local and international investors for early-stage funding of up to $100,000 or seed funding which ranges up to $500,000 USD. Besides, the startups will receive personalized coaching, business to business sales opportunities, and adaptive learning to meet their unique needs during the three months program period

To qualify, the startups will be required to prove their ability to offer solutions to the market, be technology-driven, show the impact of their work, and have an existing strong team.

Women and youth-owned ocean-based enterprises are highly encouraged to apply for the Pangea Blue economy accelerator program through the program’s website. 

The Pangea blue economy accelerator program also has the ambition to strengthen the dialogue with the Norwegian business community on the possibilities of investing in ocean industries in developing countries, to contribute to value and job creation.

Why is the Blue Economy important?

According to the Commonwealth, over 71 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by water and nearly half of the world’s population lives within 100 kilometers of the sea.

Three-quarters of all large cities are located along the coast and 90 percent of globally traded commodities pass through the sea.

The global ocean-based economy is estimated at US$3 trillion a year, which represents about five percent of global GDP. Blue economy industries provide for the livelihoods of over 820 million people worldwide in diverse fields including maritime shipping and related transport, energy generation, mining, construction, trade, tourism, research, among others, not forgetting very important ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration.

Fishing and aquaculture form an integral part of the Blue Economy, perhaps one of the most important sectors due to the wide distribution of opportunities and benefits it creates across the world, especially in developing countries.

Global fish production has increased to about 171 million tonnes, about half of it coming from aquaculture, valued at about US$362 billion. Fish accounts for almost 20 percent of the per capita intake of animal protein for 3.2 billion people, contributing to 17 percent of the global animal protein food supply.

Aquaculture also continues to grow faster than other major food production sectors at nearly 6 percent per year. About 60 million people derive their main livelihood from fishing or aquaculture, over 96 percent of these in developing countries in Asia and Africa. Roughly the same number of people, particularly women, are employed in post-harvest fish processing, marketing, and other value chain activities.

About Pangea Accelerator

Pangea Accelerator is a Norwegian accelerator and an investment platform operating in East Africa that matches African startups with investors, foundations, and development agencies to reach a global scale. Learn more about Pangea Accelerator here.