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Zambia Twin Transition Pre-Seed Entrepreneurship Program: Twin Digital Foundry

  • SDG1
  • SDG2
  • SDG5
  • SDG8
  • SDG12
  • SDG13
icon_Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Economic Development

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Timeframe 01.04.2026-31.01.2027 Aktiivne
Target group Startup founders
Budget 95 112 EUR
Funders
  • ESTDEV
Partners

The programme focuses on the pre-seed stage, supporting aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs to develop “twin transition” business concepts, ventures that leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, automation, and IoT to address environmental and economic challenges. By strengthening capabilities at this early-stage formation, the programme contributes to a broader, more sustainable pipeline of ventures that can later access existing funding mechanisms..

Project objectives

The Zambia Twin Transition Pre-Seed Entrepreneurship Programme (in short Twin Transition Foundry) aims to address a structural "Pre-Seed Gap" in Zambia’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, where available public and private funding instruments increasingly prioritise more mature, investment-ready startups, while the pipeline of newly formed ventures capable of reaching this level remains limited.

Actions and results

As part of the programme, Garage48 and BongoHive will jointly implement an extensive communication and outreach campaign to identify early-stage entrepreneurs seeking support in company creation and access to relevant expertise and resources. In October 2026, a competitive hackathon will be organised for up to 100 selected participants, serving as a structured selection and activation mechanism to identify committed entrepreneurial teams addressing priority economic and environmental challenges through digital solutions.

Following the hackathon, selected best teams will have to submit a 6-month post-hackathon implementation plan to understand who is more serious about moving forward. The plan will be evaluated by the hackathon mentors and organizers.