Appletree Campaigns to Raise $5B to Fund 1 Million African eCommerce SMEs

Appletree Digital Commerce, an eCommerce company, has debuted the Taking One Million African Traders Online Movement (TOMATO) initiative, to help out with African youths with fewer opportunities, a press release says.

Nigel Daura, Managing Director of Appletree Digital Commerce, said the company had seen some “alarming” stats that “inspired us to think differently about how we could provide practical solutions to help young Africans to realize their entrepreneurial potential.”

The African Development Bank’s stats found that the continent’s youth population will likely double and be more than 850 million by 2050.

That’s in addition to the 10 million to 12 million youths entering the workforce every year.

The release notes how the business models can’t support the projected growth of the youth in Africa. But the internet has a wealth of ways for the model to be exploited, with around 3 million formal jobs created every year.

The release notes that there’s a need to teach younger audiences in Africa to “think entrepreneurially and take firm and deliberate steps to support small businesses.”

PYMNTS wrote that Launch Africa Ventures, a pan-African venture capital fund, has closed a $36.3 million fund to invest in B2B and various consumer startups.

Read more: Pan African VC Fund Launch Africa Raises $36.3M

The report said the Mauritius company has helped 108 startups in 21 African countries, including various companies like Nigerian neobank Kuda and Kenyan B2B eCommerce firm MarketForce.

According to managing partner Zachariah George, Launch Africa had plans to roll out its company in more countries.

“I can’t think of a single fund that covers many markets as we do,” he said. “We’re doing deals in the DRC, Madagascar, Sudan, Botswana, Benin, Togo. People use the word pan-African loosely, but when we say pan-African, we truly mean what we do.”

George said there’s a limited capacity for follow-ons, and if there was a portion for that designated, the company wouldn’t have the space to cover everything it wants to.