Since 2006 NEIA e.V. has sup­por­ted pro­jects in Af­ri­ca, fo­cus­ing on those areas where large aid or­ga­ni­sa­t­ions are not ac­tive. In 2024, we col­la­bo­rat­ed on buil­ding a school li­brary in Dé­dou­gou, Bur­ki­na Fa­so. The following year, we con­tin­ued our co­oper­at­ion with the vo­ca­tio­nal school’s car­pen­­try work­­shop.

 

Dozens of stu­dents are now com­plet­ing their vo­cat­io­nal train­ing. Although they are well qua­li­­fi­ed, they lack the start-up ca­pi­tal to set up their own small bu­si­nes­ses. With a work­­shop, pro­­ducts or ser­vices, how­ever, they could con­tri­bu­te to re­gio­nal sup­ply and de­ve­lop­­ment.

 

An entrepreneurship pro­gram­me has there­fore been de­ve­lo­ped to sup­port three start-up pro­­jects led by gra­du­ates each year. To this intent, a mi­cro­cre­dit fund is being set up at the vo­ca­tio­nal school, which our foun­da­tion will co-fi­nance in 2027. Start-up ca­pi­tal of 15,000 € is re­quir­ed to fund three start-ups each year and to se­cu­re the fund for the fol­low­ing years. This lays the frame­work for a fun­ding struc­ture with re­curr­ing grants, ex­ten­ding the fund’s reach be­yond the first round.