Westerwelle Foundation

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Westerwelle Foundation

We empower entrepreneurs in Africa, Asia & Latin America. How do we do this? Through our startup hubs and support programmes.

The Westerwelle Foundation was founded in 2013 by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Guido Westerwelle and entrepreneur Ralph Dommermuth. At its core the Westerwelle Foundation aims at strengthening democracy and economies by creating opportunities for young people in emerging countries. We currently have four startup hubs in Africa: Tunisia, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya. Each Westerwelle S

tartup Haus offers co-working, capacity building and access to the local startup community. Our programmes support startups all the way from ideation to international acceleration. Our flagship programme is the Young Founders Programme, accelerating 50 founders from Asia, Africa and Latin America per year and ending with a conference in Berlin for the top entrepreneurs.

03/06/2026

Key takeaways from the Germany - Africa Investment Report ⚡

German capital in Africa has changed shape over the past decade. Not just in volume, but in structure, geography, and risk appetite.

Here's what we found when we went looking for the bigger picture:
🔹 49 German funders
🔹 279 deals across 21 countries
🔹 534% increase in deal volume in the second half of the decade

The carousel covers ten facts about ten years of German investments into African startups. The full report goes deeper into the patterns and what's still holding back more international investors from Africa.

Thank yous for making this report possible:
💙 Authors Aditya Raj and Ida Huiskonen
💙 Briter for the deal data
💙 GIZ SPARK for supporting the whole Africa Investment Bridge initiative

The full report is available on our website 👉 https://westerwelle-foundation.com/programs/africa-investment-bridge/

—
Africa Investment Bridge is implemented by the Westerwelle Foundation , funded by GIZ - Gesellschaft für Interkulturelles Zusammenleben Project SPARK. GIZ Project SPARK is commissioned by the Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ) and co-financed by the European Union (EU).

02/06/2026

Turns out the diaspora in Berlin has a lot to say about investing in Africa.

Founders, investors, and members of the diaspora filled the room last Friday to answer one question:

How do we move beyond remittances and begin investing talent, networks, and capital more intentionally across Africa?

Ida Huiskonen joined the Africa Day, organised by the Berlin Africa Tech Network and Blackintech Berlin, to share findings from our recently published Germany–Africa Investment Report (supported by GITEX Europe SPARK), featuring a decade of data on investment flows, where the real opportunities are, and what still gets in the way.

Lucie Arntz, lawyer and angel investor, talked about what convinced her to invest in a Ghanaian startup, how to navigate the legal side of investing, and what's holding back later stage investors.

Lynae Brayboy, Co-founder of Ovom Care, spoke candidly about building for African markets, the importance of security, and long-term perspectives of the continent.

What the evening showed is how many people in Berlin are exploring the topic seriously, from different angles.

Thank you Kave Bulambo & team for creating the space for these conversations 💙

P.S. The food was amazing. Shoutout to Pan Africa Berlin!

Photo credits Emmanuel and Nemo Production

Join the Africa Berlin Tech Network 2026 delegation trips: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeV2ZfBI0tz9ySUqiCOwPOngs6q9FAzoXmZTUoY1ram7SGr5g/viewform

Check out the full Germany - Africa Investment Report: https://airtable.com/app3IiVg49l5BmkQg/pagUsXFxcCBS2q0zD/form

31/05/2026

Paul’s answers are in. No opinions were harmed in the making of this video 🙂‍↔️

28/05/2026

After a decade of building across Africa, West Africa is finally on our map 🗺️

From Tunis to Kigali, Arusha to Mombasa, every WSH hub has been built around one thing: giving founders the space, support, and network they deserve.

Accra is next.

🔹 Premium co-working for teams building real companies
🔹 Flexible desks for independents who take their craft seriously
🔹 Structured programmes for founders who want more than inspiration
🔹 A Pan-African network that now stretches across the continent

Accra, we're excited to build with you 💙

Stay in the loop for important updates and offers 👉 https://airtable.com/appafixTZSUiS0cOJ/pagC604XmxpYJTj1J/form

27/05/2026

Access to finance is often the biggest gap for small businesses. This programme is special because it tackles that head-on through a corporate collaboration that actually makes businesses more bankable.

With Biashara Kijani, the Stanbic Biashara Incubator brings 12 months of structured green business support and access-to-finance guidance to MSMEs across Tanzania in Arusha, Mbeya, Mwanza, and Tanga.

Stanbic Bank Tanzania partnered with Westerwelle Startup Haus Arusha to work side by side with entrepreneurs. A bank sitting at the same table with the young businesses.

We're already done with the pre-incubation sessions. 68 businesses joined in Arusha. 94 in Mbeya. 56 in Mwanza. 65 in Tanga. The target is to reach 252 MSMEs throughout the programme, with at least 70% women-led or youth-led businesses.

This and next week, the Westerwelle Startup Haus Arusha team is travelling to the regions for bootcamps.

Each bootcamp integrates sustainability, ESG, climate-smart business, gender inclusion, and green finance. Each participant leaves with a Green Action Plan. Many will take the next step toward formal financing.

This collaboration shows how ecosystem partners and financial institutions can work together to build both sustainable businesses and stable banking relationships 💙

22/05/2026

The Germany - Africa Investment Report will be published online next week⚡ On 29 May in Berlin, you can hear the findings first.

Shoutout and thank you to GIZ Spark for supporting the whole Africa Investment Bridge initiative and Aditya Raj for authoring the report.

We're joining Africa Berlin Tech Network and Blackintech Berlin for an in-person evening in Berlin built around one question: what does it take to move more capital to African startups?

Ida Huiskonen will share insights from our freshly published Germany - Africa Investment Report, which covers 10 years of data on German investment into African startups.

We'll talk about who the most active investors are (spoiler: it's not VCs), the top sectors, as well as how to address the challenges holding new investors back from entering the African market.

The event runs from 18:30 onwards and brings together founders, investors, operators, diaspora members, and partners who are serious about the African startup ecosystem, not just curious about it.

The Africa Berlin Tech Network will also share more about their delegation trip to Nigeria and Ghana in September and further stops in South Africa and Namibia in November.

Africa is the youngest continent on earth. By 2050, one in four people globally will be African. The research is done. The question now is what comes next.

📅 29 May 2026, 18:30–22:00 📍 In person, Berlin 🎟️ Register: https://www.eventbrite.de/e/africa-day-tickets-1989816518772?

20/05/2026

What if the biggest barrier to international cooperation isn’t your product, but your paperwork?

Kijani Enterprise Cooperation Lab (KECL) is launching at WSH Mombasa to help 10 coastal Kenyan green enterprises build what international cooperation requires: governance, compliance, financial reporting, and the structures that make credible partnerships possible.

If you're a growth-stage enterprise in coastal Kenya with at least two years of operation, demonstrated revenue traction, and ambition to explore structured cooperation with German or EU partners, applications are now open.

We're proud to be launching this at our Mombasa hub, with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation Kenya 💙

Apply via the link 👉 https://airtable.com/appYu46hQOrOcSsE7/pagCox3MKfrtE45I3/forhttps://airtable.com/appYu46hQOrOcSsE7/pagCox3MKfrtE45I3/form

18/05/2026

Demokratie geht davon aus, dass wir Menschen sind - und damit fehlbar.

Guido Westerwelle war überzeugt, dass Demokratie etwas zugleich Einfaches und Anspruchsvolles braucht: die Bereitschaft, ohne Angst zu debattieren.

Am 18. März 2026 haben wir anlässlich seines zehnten Todestages an ihn erinnert.

In diesem Ausschnitt der Gedenkveranstaltung greift Julia Klöckner seine Überzeugung auf, dass eine Demokratie, die sich nur noch aufs „Ertappen“ konzentriert, irgendwann aufhört zuzuhören – und am Ende aufhört zu diskutieren.

Am 18. jedes Monats teilen wir kurze Momente aus der Veranstaltung, um seine Ideen im heutigen Diskurs lebendig zu halten.

——————

Democracy assumes we are human, and therefore fallible.

Guido Westerwelle believed that democracy depends on something simple but demanding: the willingness to debate without fear.

On 18 March 2026, we commemorated the tenth anniversary of his passing.

In this excerpt from the event, we revisit his conviction that a democracy focused only on “catching” mistakes stops listening and eventually stops discussing.

On the 18th of every month, we share short moments from the commemoration to keep his ideas present in today’s conversations.

15/05/2026

Physically in Berlin.
Mentally somewhere between Tunis, Kigali, Arusha, and Mombasa 💙

Adresse

Torstraße 201
Berlin
10115

Webseite

http://www.westerwelle-foundation.com/

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