Smart Africa has soft-launched the SANIA Platform Smart Africa Network on Incubators and Accelerators during the Transform Africa Summit 2025, marking a significant step toward building a unified and borderless African entrepreneurship ecosystem. The launch brought together founders, ecosystem leaders, policymakers, investors, and innovation enablers with a shared goal of empowering startups to scale across the continent. Guided by the theme "One Continent, One Ecosystem," the session focused on the need to overcome fragmentation, strengthen collaboration, and provide African innovators with the tools, networks, and visibility required to compete globally.
The main-stage Hot-Seat Discussion, moderated by Chidi Afulezi, featured perspectives from leading ecosystem players including BongoHive, Growth Africa, HAUS Finland, AethexAI, TransNumerik Group, and Kubee Analytics. The discussions were followed by a live demonstration of the SANIA Platform, showcasing its potential to serve as a central digital infrastructure for Africa's entrepreneurship landscape.
The launch produced three major commitments. The first is a pledge to build a truly connected African entrepreneurship ecosystem. Despite growth in hubs and accelerators across the continent, startups still face challenges when trying to collaborate or expand across borders. SANIA aims to bridge these gaps by facilitating real-time connections among entrepreneurs, support organizations, investors, and corporates, enabling faster access to talent, markets, capital, and partners.
