- News
DFP Launches the “Africa Corporate Innovation Program” — Accelerating Business Creation in Africa through Co-Creation between Global Corporates and Startups—
Promoting Open Innovation Between Global Corporates and African Startups Through Collaboration with Shell Foundation and NEC
Double Feather Partners, Inc. (hereinafter “DFP”) has launched the “Africa Corporate Innovation Program” (hereinafter “ACIP”) in collaboration with NEC Corporation (hereinafter “NEC”) and the UK-registered charity Shell Foundation (hereinafter “Shell Foundation”), with the aim of addressing social challenges in Africa and creating new business opportunities.
This program promotes co-creation between Japanese companies and African startups, spanning from proof-of-concept (PoC) to commercialization and long-term growth support.
DFP has been actively connecting Japanese and global companies with the African market through startup support, business development, and venture investment across Africa. Through initiatives such as JICA’s NINJA program, as well as acceleration and open innovation programs with UNDP and Luxembourg-related institutions, DFP has supported collaboration and business creation with over 130 local startups, establishing a framework that bridges PoC, commercialization, and scaling support.
ACIP brings together DFP, Shell Foundation, and NEC, leveraging their respective strengths to operationalize co-creation with startups capable of solving real challenges in Africa.
The program targets the value chain across agriculture, logistics, and mobility, selecting startups with locally relevant solutions and promoting PoCs through collaboration with corporates. Based on these outcomes, the program aims to enhance local value delivery, clarify pathways for business expansion, and build sustainable co-creation models.
The program incorporates a blended finance approach supported by contributions from the UK Government via the Research on Infrastructure in Developing Economies (RIDE) programme, enabling risk mitigation during early-stage PoCs while facilitating future private investment and business scale-up through a practical implementation framework.
Within this program, DFP will be responsible for defining corporate challenges, designing co-creation themes, sourcing and selecting startups, supporting PoC execution, providing funding, measuring and reporting social impact, and designing strategies for business scaling.
DFP will continue to bridge Japanese technological and business capabilities with Africa’s locally driven innovation to achieve both social impact and sustainable business creation.
【Program Overview】
・Target Countries: Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda and others
・Themes: Agritech, Logistics, Mobility
・Schedule:
April 2026:
Launch of the Africa Corporate Innovation Program
Initiate collaboration with African startups
Through December 2026:
PoC projects utilizing agricultural fields in Africa
March 2027:
Evaluation of PoC outcomes and impact measurement, followed by a final reporting session
Masayuki Furukawa
Director, Private Sector Development Group
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
JICA has been continuously conducting cooperation in collaboration with private-sector partners with the aim of strengthening startup ecosystems in Africa and enhancing collaboration between African and Japanese companies.
This initiative holds significant value where it leverages the experience and knowledge accumulated through the Next Innovation with Japan (NINJA) project promoted by JICA, with the expectation of contributing further to Africa’s economic development. JICA supports the idea that private companies take the lead in addressing social challenges in Africa and building mutually beneficial relationships.
Furthermore, JICA hopes that this initiative will encourage more Japanese companies to participate in similar efforts, thereby further expanding collaboration between startups in Japan and Africa. JICA will continue its cooperation through Project NINJA and will support promoting initiatives of this kind going forward.
Jonathan Berman
CEO
Shell Foundation
Raising incomes for people on low incomes while supporting a low carbon pathway requires more than good ideas – it requires partnerships that bring together capital, technology and local entrepreneurial expertise. Through the Africa Corporate Innovation Program, Shell Foundation is using catalytic funding to reduce the risk of collaboration and, together with our partner Double Feather Partners, help global corporates like NEC work alongside African startups to test, learn and build solutions that can scale and evolve into sustainable business partnerships. Our role is to make these partnerships possible, prove what works in practice and help unlock much larger flows of capital into inclusive, climate smart markets.
Kohei Muto
Representative Director & CEO
Double Feather Partners
Social challenges in Africa should no longer be viewed merely as development issues; they represent the frontier of one of the world’s fastest-evolving innovation markets. This program is an implementation-driven platform that connects NEC’s technological strengths with the field-driven innovation capabilities of African startups.
DFP will design and support mechanisms that connect PoCs to investment opportunities and business scale-up, helping maximize NEC’s business expansion and social impact creation in Africa. The program is also built on DFP’s strong and strategic collaboration with Shell Foundation, with whom we have been advancing the development of scalable and sustainable business models in Africa through the lenses of impact investment and blended finance.
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Shell Foundation and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) for their continued partnership and support. Through this initiative, we aim to establish a new co-creation model that creates a seamless pathway from demonstration projects to capital linkage and ultimately to long-term business value creation.
DFP will also participate in the following event at “SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026,” to be held from April 27 (Mon) to April 29 (Wed), 2026:
＜SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 Event Overview＞
Title: Beyond Capital: Building Japan–Africa Innovation Through Co-Creation and Investment
Date & Time: April 27 (Mon), 17:05–17:50
Venue: Tokyo Big Sight, West Hall 3–4, 4F (Upper Floor), Investor’s Stage
Speakers:
Double Feather Partners, JICA, Shell Foundation, NEC, IDC, Absa Bank, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.
※ For details and registration, please visit the official website:
https://sushitech-startup.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/
【Company Overview】
Double Feather Partners, Inc.
Founded in 2018. Engaged in startup investment and business co-creation support primarily in Africa. Through co-creation design and capital connectivity, DFP supports companies in developing new businesses and expanding into African markets.