Korea

Economic cooperation between South Korea and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which involves 54 African nations, is materializing with a focus on the startup ecosystem. The Korea-Africa Foundation hosted an online orientation for the ‘AfCFTA Startup Partnership Program’ on Sep. 8 and resolved to support promising African enterprises in their exchanges with the Korean market.

This program was established to nurture African startups possessing high growth potential and to strengthen business cooperation between Korea and Africa. As an initiative launched for the first time this year by the foundation in partnership with the AfCFTA Secretariat, a final 30 companies made the selection list following document and presentation evaluations.

The selected enterprises are evenly distributed across the five regions of the African continent. By region, 8 companies from the South, 7 from the West, 6 from the Central, 5 from the East, and 4 from the North are participating. Regarding industrial sectors, agriculture accounts for the largest share with 10 companies, followed by digital platforms (6 companies), manufacturing (4 companies), logistics (3 companies), e-commerce (3 companies), fintech (3 companies), and climate tech (1 company).

The acceleration program, launching into full scale following the orientation, focuses on establishing customized strategies for each company. Participating enterprises will cultivate their market entry capabilities through one-on-one mentoring and educational programs while solidifying a foundation for exchange with Korean partners. Through these efforts, the foundation plans to provide practical guidance to help African companies successfully settle into the Korean market.

A demo day, serving as a midterm review of the program, will be held in October. The top 15 companies selected through this demonstration will be granted the opportunity to visit South Korea in person. The enterprises that secure tickets to Korea will observe the domestic startup ecosystem firsthand and engage in continuous networking with local experts.

The visit to Korea is scheduled for December. These companies will participate in the global startup festival ‘COMEUP’ hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, where they will operate an Africa Pavilion exhibition.