African Social
Entrepreneurial Network
A pan-African network dedicated to promoting and strengthening social entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa — connecting entrepreneurs with investors, decision-makers, technical experts and development partners. Royal Green World's second flagship programme — connecting social entrepreneurs across Africa.
Let's make social entrepreneurship a real lever for substainable economic development transformation in Africa.
Why ASEN Exists
Sub-Saharan Africa faces profound crises — over 40% of the population lives below the poverty line, 15 million new jobs are needed annually by 2030, and climate impacts have quadrupled since 1970. Despite the dynamism of Africa's social entrepreneurs, they operate largely in isolation — unable to pool resources, share knowledge, or influence policy. ASEN turns this fragmentation into collective power. Starting with a pilot in Cameroon, ASEN will build a replicable model ready to scale across the continent.
ASEN delivers value across five dimensions — each designed to address a specific gap in Africa's social entrepreneurship landscape.
01
🌐
Ecosystem Connectivity & Networking
Pan-African platform connecting entrepreneurs across 54 nations with investors, governments and support structures for cross-border collaboration.
02
💰
Investment & Financial Readiness
Connecting social entrepreneurs to impact funds, development banks, incubation programs and business structuring experts for sustainable growth.
03
🎓
Capacity Building, Technical Expertise, and Green Project Incubation
Webinars, technical workshops, peer-to-peer experience exchanges and the annual ASES summit — building skills and knowledge across the network.
04
📢
Advocacy & Policy Influence
Awareness campaigns with public institutions, policy dialogue and studies to create enabling environments for social entrepreneurship in Africa.
05
📣
Visibility & Market Access
Strengthening the legitimacy and influence of social enterprises with public decision-makers, international partners and target markets.
Everything ASEN does is organised around four interconnected axes — each reinforcing the others to create a powerful, self-sustaining ecosystem.
Three structured phases — from a solid Cameroon pilot to a scalable pan-African model.
Phase 1
Launch & Structuring
3 Months
Network setup, digital platform development, partner identification, first member recruitment and appointment of country focal points across sub-Saharan Africa.
Phase 2
Operational Deployment
12 Months
Organisation of the inaugural ASES summit, launch of support programs and incubation services, animation of regional thematic groups, first investor connections established.
Phase 3
Consolidation and Scale Up, and Appointment of Focal Points across different countries
9 Months
Network expansion to new African countries, strengthening of advocacy activities, full impact evaluation, sustainability strategy and preparation for continental rollout.
🌍 SDG Alignment — Contributing to the Global Goals
SDG 1 — No Poverty
SDG 4 — Quality Education
SDG 5 — Gender Equality
SDG 7 — Clean Energy
SDG 8 — Decent Work & Growth
SDG 10 — Reduced Inequalities
SDG 13 — Climate Action
SDG 15 — Life on Land
SDG 17 — Partnerships for Goals
Join the Movement
ASEN represents a unique opportunity to strengthen social innovation, stimulate youth and women's employment, and contribute concretely to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals across Africa. We invite donors, impact investors, cooperation agencies, UN organisations, public institutions and entrepreneurship support structures to co-build Africa's most powerful social innovation ecosystem.
