Katrin Winter, ESTDEV’s Regional Head for Africa: “Development cooperation is one way into new markets.”

Today, Katrin Winter, the regional head for Africa at the Estonian Centre for International Development (ESTDEV), participated in a panel at the 2025 Africa Business Forum, discussing how NGOs, foundations and international organizations support European-African business diplomacy. 

During the panel, Winter noted that relationships are one of the key components of working in Africa, which is why ESTDEV invests time and effort to ensure there’s a strong understanding of local context and development projects are tailored to meet local needs.  

“There are 54 countries in Africa. It is not just one market. You have to be present and invest in knowing how things work locally,” said Winter. “There are no copy-paste solutions. We invest in relationships.” 

Katrin Winter (KW) went more in depth into this topic during an interview with Hando Sinisalu (HS) on Äripäev Radio recently. They spoke about development cooperation between African countries and Estonia, and the Estonian private sector’s contribution to development cooperation. Their conversation has been translated as is available below. 

Listen to the entire interview (in Estonian) on Äripäev's website. 

HS: If entrepreneurs in IT and education are listening to us now, what kind of opportunities does ESTDEV offer? 

KW: There are many opportunities. In fact, apart from IT and related training, we have a very strong focus on entrepreneurship and business development. A €700,000 procurement is also coming up soon to create a business accelerator, focusing not solely on our four priority countries but on all of sub-Saharan Africa. 

However, based on what Estonia has to offer, what Estonia's experience is, and what Estonia is known for, e-governance and everything related to it, such as building e-services or cybersecurity, are still number one. These are certainly accompanied by preliminary research and mapping, and e-services always involve training. This year and last, there have been a lot of different training courses in Kenya, as well as in Namibia and Botswana, and we see that there will be more in the future. 

These four countries are our priorities, but when we talk about money from the European Commission and other donors, projects are increasingly regional. For example, with e-services, developing interoperability, and so on, we operate across borders. In East Africa, Tanzania is largely in the picture, along with various other countries. 

HS: I read your LinkedIn post, where you have listed seven new projects. Companies such as BCS Koolitus, Garage48 and several universities are implementing these projects. Which Estonian organisations have received funding from you in recent years to work in Africa? 

KW: These seven projects are from this year's Africa application round, which takes place every year. Our main topics are e-governance, entrepreneurship, and education. Over the years, we have increasingly seen that more players in education and universities are very interested in cooperation. And there have been many different training courses. For example, Garage48 mainly does hackathons, but there is always some element of training embedded in them. 

The projects that Estonia funds are part of our larger African programme. 

HS: But who else besides those I mentioned? 

KW: For example, we have supported Cybernetica for several years; they built an X-road called Nam-X in Namibia. BCS Koolitus operated in Botswana last year. Definitely the NGO Mondo, which is already a well-known development cooperation organisation. This year, we had a new entrant, HK Unicorn Squad, who will work with Mondo to empower women and girls. 

Since our mandate is primarily development cooperation, we have NGOs, academia and private companies, all of whom are welcome to participate in the rounds. It would be great if they came to the round as consortia, so that these different fields could be connected through projects. 

HS: From an entrepreneur's perspective, the time and energy spent preparing an application must be worth the potential win. What amounts are we talking about in these projects? 

KW: It always makes sense to invest time in the application! One project can receive a maximum of €100,000, but development cooperation could be a way for an entrepreneur to test out a new market. And the markets there are large; for example, Kenya has a population of 55 million. 

Development cooperation is a good opportunity to dip your toes in the water and understand what's going on there. 

So it's like a small market entry activity to test the waters and get an idea of ​​what's going on there? 

Yes, exactly. You can look at it that way, and this is certainly what this development cooperation project is for Estonian companies. Of course, the first goal of these projects is to bring some benefit to the country where they operate. 

Estonia and ESTDEV have actually disrupted the normal operation of global development cooperation a bit because we cooperate heavily with the private sector. In fact, it is also more sustainable because this one project may be market entry, but new opportunities may arise from there. In East Africa, we also cooperate with EIS; at some point, they will take over the work we have started. 

There are also quite a few prejudices and myths regarding Africa and the business culture there. In many ways, it's different from ours, like when adhering to time and deadlines, and this may also hold some [companies] back. However, in the long term, Africa is essentially the only region in the world with a growing population, and this market has tremendous potential. So, how can these preconceptions be refuted? How would you encourage an Estonian entrepreneur? 

First of all, Africa is a very large continent; we are talking about 54 very different countries. But if we generalise, then indeed, time has a slightly different dimension in Africa. 

Presence, actually being there, and relationships are very important. A lot is still based on relationships, and not only on professional working relationships. You still have to put 100% of your time into winning people's trust. 

Estonia is valued there as a partner, and we do not have a negative reputation there. In general, we do not have a long history in Africa, but we have been known since the 90s for our actions. We are in good standing there, and we are always welcomed. 

In my experience, agreements are always respected. It also helps us that we have people on the ground. [Editor’s note: ESTDEV has a project management office in Kenya.] If anyone needs help, advice or contacts, we are happy to help. 

There is certainly no need to be afraid. Rather, take it as an adventure. But you have to be there. And you have to understand and make it clear to yourself how these different cultures work. 

But one such myth (whether it is a myth, we will find out soon) is that we enter the market with development cooperation funds and then there is a good opportunity to start doing “real business” there, but then the funding runs out and it seems like nothing happens. That companies and local partners are not ready to put their money on the line—is that true? 

Yes and no. Historically, it is true that large donors come and give millions, and people live off the projects. 

But here again, there is a difference in how we operate. First of all, we do not do any projects that are not needed, that we have not coordinated with our partners there. We invest a lot of time designing these programmes and projects together, and that is where this feeling of participation comes from. And in fact, we still put our budget into projects. Although we are in the role of a so-called donor, this cooperation is a stage on the journey for the local partner, and after the project, the matter will still continue sustainably. 

Estonia is a small donor with small resources. We can only afford to do these projects once, and we have to do them right the first time. Co-creation and collaboration are very important. 

In this sense, is there no fear that if the donor's money runs out, we will no longer be able to do business with them? 

There is certainly a bit of that, but thorough preliminary work must be done. You have to be present; you have to understand what is really needed. You also need to understand who makes the decisions. It may not be the person who is forced to sit in front of you in the meeting room. That is why it is necessary to dig deep into the specifics of each situation. 

Another fear is when governments change. New heads of state come to power, replace officials and contacts are lost. How big is that risk? 

It is a risk, though usually not all officials are replaced. Ministers and chancellors certainly, but rank-and-file officials generally remain. 

But elections do indeed affect [local conditions] in different ways. For example, I was just in Zambia, where we talked about eID and e-elections. There are elections there next year, but the opposition has blocked the further development of eID because they are afraid the election will be stolen. 

Such topics arise, some projects are indeed more complicated in the period before and after elections. But at the same time, it is also the case here, that things are wanted to be done before the elections. 

What other topics in Africa, apart from e-government, could see great growth potential and in which there is interest there, also outside of donors? 

In almost all African countries that I have visited, youth unemployment is perhaps the biggest problem right now. A lot is being looked at towards developing entrepreneurship and start-ups. This is where Estonia can come into play again. 

Both donors and these countries themselves are currently moving in the direction of mentoring, job creation and various (entrepreneurship) accelerators. A lot of attention is being paid to private companies in the technology and IT fields. Estonian companies certainly have opportunities here to share their experiences and, through this, even train employees coming from there. 

This is an interesting topic, and we know that some have already tried to set up development centres in Africa. This youth unemployment also means that there could be a so-called provider market. What is the experience with hiring employees in Africa? 

We had a talent programme here with Kenya, where we brought young Kenyans to do internships in Estonian companies. We have had very good experiences with that. The work culture of young people is the same as ours in that they are conscientious. 

A lot of call centres are being created locally, and English is generally spoken. Call centres that can employ thousands of people at once are popping up in many countries. 

I don't think there's anything to be afraid of. Universities, and there are a lot of them, can have very good [educational] levels, so it's worth looking for talent in Africa. Especially considering where the market of the future is.