Our Francophone Foray Thus Far
Since we first told you about the Social Impact Incubator (SII) West Africa back in August, the 32 champion organizations have been up to a lot. In the past five months they’ve been undergoing coaching, capacity-building, and community-building; they’ve gone on site visits, hosted mixers, and had their work publicized by the press. Here at Segal Family Foundation, we believe meaningful change takes time: similar to our grantmaking style, SII (co-funded by Partners for Equity) is another embodiment of how we are in it for the long haul by investing in very early-stage organizations and helping them reach fundable status. In April of 2026, the inaugural West Africa cohort will be slated to graduate!
This cohort features organizations doing pioneering work, such as Bluemind Foundation’s system-shifting initiatives to de-stigmatize mental illness and democratize care. Their award-winning flagship initiative, Heal by Hair, transforms hair salons into frontline spaces of healing by training hairdressers as mental health first responders. In just two years, the program has reached over 100,000 women across Togo, Cameroon, and Côte d’Ivoire at a cost of just one Euro per life. For organizations that are as nascent as those in the Social Impact Incubator, it can be challenging to catch and keep the attention of potential funders. Donor engagement is a skill that requires some practice; as such, the champions went through a preparation cycle culminating in pitch presentations to funders in early November. In attendance were SII co-runner Partners for Equity, African Collaborative, Firelight Foundation, Funders of African Descent, mc2h Foundation, New Africa Fund, Rippleworks, Van Leer Foundation, and Whole Foods Market Foundation. Following the event, nearly half of the champions – 17 organizations! – each received a bridge grant of USD 10,000 to support their organizational and program development. For the champions, this marks a shift from groundwork to real-world fundraising and visibility.
Among the bridge grant recipients are standouts like Growing Life, a Senegalese organization working to replicate a model of bio-intensive farming among rural women to strengthen their autonomy and connect communities to healthier food. Growing Life promotes sustainable farming, supports training for rural women in organic agripreneurship, democratizes access to farm produce, and promotes a solidarity-based ecosystem for rural women. There’s also Ecole Le Petit Poucet, an inclusive private nursery and primary school in Cotonou, Benin, that runs a pedagogical innovation lab to train educators and drive innovative inclusive projects. These are only a few of the exciting organizations in francophone West Africa that Segal Family Foundation is exploring through the Social Impact Incubator.
Through the end of the year, champions will continue sharpening their financial sustainability skills and learning how to best steward their organizations. Funder involvement remains critical throughout this process, and we create room for this through opportunities like ‘Ask A Funder Anything’ sessions (this month’s guests will be Livelihood Impact Fund and Myriad USA) and another pitch cycle that will take place before graduation. To anglophone Africa-oriented donors who are curious about expanding their support into francophone countries, we say: fear not! There are many ways to get to know the region, its visionaries, and their organizations – in the Segal spirit of advising, our Equitable Giving team is happy to talk to our fellow funders about crossing the language barrier.
