Entrepreneurship programme using cultural diversity and new encounters as driving forces for creation and innovation

SINGA is a global community of 50,000 members, in 17 cities of 7 countries. A community that aspires to create open societies and innovative economies where everyone, regardless of their origin, can reach their full potential.

In France, SINGA creates a link between newcomers (people with migrant and refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds) and locals (people with knowledge of the cultural codes in the welcoming community) with the aim to develop each person’s social and professional networks, leading to the creation of many opportunities (e.g. access to culture, employment, education or housing).

SINGA’s entrepreneurship work is based on the idea that newcomers have already deployed a wealth of entrepreneurial skills and competences in their migration journey such as resilience, creativity, networking, hope, continuous learning, courage, ambition, cooperation, adaptation to unforeseen circumstances… and that these are an asset to the host society and can efficiently be translated to an innovative entrepreneurial activity in which newcomers can thrive and contribute.
SINGA’s entrepreneurship programme provides entrepreneurship support to newcomers and locals that have a project linked to migration. The SINGA enterpreneurship programme is free of charge and financially supported by a large consortium of public and private partners. The programme is divided in 3 stages:

Pre-incubation: This stage allows participants to develop their project and bring their ideas to life. They clarify their idea, check how realistic and reliable it is and make a plan of action.

The pre-incubation programme supports around 20 entrepreneurs each cycle, within both group and individual settings and for a duration of 2 months. It includes:
• sessions of individual follow-ups with programme leaders to develop the foundations of the project (company, association…) and to find the type of support best suited to the entrepreneur’s needs.
• group workshops (training / collective intelligence) with programme leaders and other entrepreneurs in the programme, favorising collaboration and skill sharing.
• The development of the entrepreneur’s professional network, enabling the project to evolve
• French courses financed by SINGA for anyone who would like them.
Incubation: this programme supports entrepreneurs to actually launch their project : legal status, testing their product or service, development…
The incubation program offers support to a dozen of entrepreneurs each cycle, in both group and individual contexts and for a duration of 6 months. This support facilitates and secures the creation stage of a business, a micro-business or an association.

The incubator offers:
• At least one follow-up session with programme leaders or mentors, to challenge the entrepreneur’s ideas and understand their needs.
• A dozen of group workshops (training / collective intelligence) with programme leaders and other entrepreneurs in the cycle to encourage collaboration and skill sharing.
• Strategy and finance mentoring with business experts
Opportunities to expand visibility and meet new people (social network of SINGA France, events…)
• The development of the entrepreneur’s professional network to allow their project to evolve
• Access to a co-working space
Acceleration: SINGA Acceleration is an entrepreneurship coaching programme for newcomers (refugees or those with a residence permit) and local people, promoting innovation resulting and/or related to migration. This step allows entrepreneurs already in business to raise funds, scale up and improve their leadership.

The acceleration programme offers support to around 6-8 entrepreneurs each cycle in both group and individual settings and for a duration of 9 months. It includes:
• Themed workshops in group format (raising funds, communication, impact measuring, branding…)
• Strategy and finance mentoring with business experts (sales, growth hacking, design UX/UI…)
• Personal follow-up sessions with the programme leader to evaluate the advancement or your project
• The development or your professional network to help your project to evolve
• Investor Day : a support day with financement opportunities
• Opportunities to grow your visibility through the SINGA France network and different events
• Access to a co-working space

Webpage of the entrepreneurship programme: https://singafrance.com/en/our-programs/