UNDP Togo Accelerator Lab

We are tackling the challenges faced by female and young entrepreneurs including those in the informal sector, to improve their livelihoods using digitalization and co-creation.

The UNDP Togo Accelerator Lab's main challenge is youth unemployment.

In partnership with UNCDF, we implemented a COVID-19 resilience program articulated around an emergency support fund for youth-and-women-led micro, small, and medium enterprises. The innovation lies in the business model used: a three-party partnership between a business incubator, a credit and cash-transfer institution and an IT solution provider.

We spearheaded the design of a pilot program named "The Togolese Facility for Acceleration and Innovation" in partnership with the Support Fund for Youth Economic Initiatives, which aims to provide innovative startups the means to develop and mature their solutions.

We have embarked on an exciting journey alongside the UNDP Accelerator Labs in Ghana and Benin under the guidance of the UNDP Africa Borderlands Centre to expand livelihood opportunities for women and youth from the Aflao border’s trade communities through the curation of and experimentation with innovations. Our work uses collective intelligence and community immersions to gather a wide range of cultural insights needed to co-create solutions that respond to the communities’ most urgent needs.