What Sephis Foundation does

Fondation SEPHIS is a Côte d'Ivoire-headquartered nonprofit foundation established in 2009 that delivers entrepreneurship training, technical assistance, and facilitated access to financing for women-led small and medium enterprises in West Africa. The foundation runs a sequenced program portfolio — AWF (African Women of the Future), WAF (Women & Finance), WAWI (West African Women Initiative), FBD (Femmes & Bois Durable), AWF EQUIP, AWF TRADE, and AWF AGRI — combining cohort-based capacity building, mentorship, and structured partnerships with banks (Ecobank, NSIA Banque, BOA, Afriland First Bank, Baobab, FIN'Elle) and international donors (Mastercard Foundation, GIZ, European Union, UN Women, UNICEF, CARE) to channel concessional credit lines and guarantees to beneficiaries.

Operationally, the foundation has no proprietary technology platform; its core "product" is a delivery model of training cohorts, pitch competitions (Pitch Project), the Forum International du Leadership Féminin (FILF), and downstream market-access partnerships (Auchan, Air Côte d'Ivoire, e-commerce platforms). It has reached over 20,000 women since inception, strengthened 5,000+ women-owned SMEs, facilitated €11.5M in inclusive financing with a reported 100% repayment rate, and contributed to 4,500+ jobs (1,500 direct, 3,000 indirect). The organization operates field offices in Côte d'Ivoire (Abidjan HQ, Yamoussoukro, Bouaké), Senegal (Dakar, Saint-Louis), and Togo (Lomé), with AWF EQUIP extending program reach into Ghana and Guinea.

The foundation is funded almost entirely through grants and donor credit facilities rather than commercial revenue; programs are delivered free of charge to selected beneficiaries. Governance is led by Board Chair Sefora Kodjo and Executive Director Saïd Sako, with a core team of roughly 15 staff across the three countries. The foundation has no parent company, no subsidiaries, and no equity ownership.

Name

Sephis Foundation

Legal name

Fondation SEPHIS

Website

https://fondationsephis.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Sephis Foundation is a Côte d'Ivoire-headquartered nonprofit established in 2009 that delivers entrepreneurship training, technical assistance, and facilitated access to financing for women-led SMEs across West Africa (Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Togo, Ghana, Guinea) through structured programs and bank and donor partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Women's Entrepreneurship Development / Nonprofit Capacity Building

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Development Finance, Guarantees & Blended Finance Programs (BPADABAM), Development Finance & Blended Finance Facilities (BPADAOAD)

Keywords

• Women entrepreneurship training
• Financial inclusion programs
• Capacity building services
• Technical assistance SMEs
• Entrepreneur mentorship programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Abidjan

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding and Donations: SEPHIS Foundation is a non-profit organization that operates through grants, donations, and partnerships with international development organizations, governments, and private sector partners. The foundation does not generate commercial revenue but disburses funds to support women entrepreneurs through training, technical assistance, and access to financing programs.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Fondation SEPHIS is a non-profit foundation that delivers structured training, technical assistance, and facilitated access to financing for women entrepreneurs in West Africa. Its portfolio of programs (AWF, WAF, WAWI, FBD, AWF EQUIP, AWF TRADE, AWF AGRI) combines cohort-based capacity building, coaching, banking partnerships, and market access integration. The foundation operates across Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Togo, Ghana, and Guinea, targeting women-led SMEs.

Product overview

The Sephis Foundation offers a portfolio of interconnected programs designed to support women entrepreneurs across Africa at every stage of growth. The flagship AWFtech (African Women of the Future Technology) program provides intensive training and mentorship, while the WAF (Women & Finance) and WAWI (West African Women Initiative) programs address financial inclusion through banking partnerships. Sector-specific programs include AWF AGRI (agro-food), AWF TRADE (market access), AWF EQUIP (agricultural value chains in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Guinea), and FBD (Femmes & Bois Durable — sustainable wood and reforestation). Together these programs form a sequenced ecosystem: AWFtech and WAF build foundational skills and financial literacy; WAWI extends these regionally; and AWF AGRI, AWF TRADE, AWF EQUIP, and FBD deliver specialized support in specific sectors and markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• AWF (African Women of the Future): Flagship excellence program preparing African women entrepreneurs to become tomorrow's leaders through intensive training, mentorship, and networking.
• WAWI (West African Women Initiative)
• WAF (Women & Finance)
• FBD (Femmes & Bois Durable)
• AWF EQUIP
• AWF TRADE
• AWF AGRI

Products and services

• AWF (African Women of the Future) An intensive four-week training and mentorship program for women entrepreneurs, combining capacity building, pitch competitions (Pitch Project), and networking. Recognized by the African Union as one of the top 50 educational initiatives in Africa (2018). Target audience: women SME owners and aspiring leaders in Africa.
• WAF (Women & Finance) A financial inclusion program that strengthens the financial and entrepreneurial skills of women SME owners in Côte d'Ivoire through training, technical assistance, and connections to banking partners. Target audience: women-led SMEs in Côte d'Ivoire.
• WAWI (West African Women Initiative) A regional financial inclusion initiative extending WAF to women entrepreneurs in Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal, combining training, mentorship, and access to inclusive financing through regional banking partnerships. Target audience: women-led SMEs in West Africa.
• FBD (Femmes & Bois Durable / Women & Sustainable Wood) A program that integrates women into sustainable wood and reforestation value chains in Côte d'Ivoire through technical training, entrepreneurial support, and access to financing, in partnership with GIZ's ProForêt Cluster. Target audience: women in the sustainable wood and forestry sector in Côte d'Ivoire.
• AWF EQUIP A regional program deployed in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Guinea supporting women-led SMEs in agricultural value chains (cocoa and rice), combining training, grants, technical assistance, and deployment support, as part of the NbS Guinean Forest project's Business Bourse. Target audience: women entrepreneurs in agricultural value chains.
• AWF TRADE A market access program in Côte d'Ivoire for 30 women entrepreneurs, focusing on quality compliance, branding, distribution integration, and financing preparation to strengthen competitiveness in formal markets. Target audience: women entrepreneurs in Côte d'Ivoire seeking formal market entry.
• AWF AGRI (African Women of the Future in Agriculture) A dedicated initiative under the AWF umbrella targeting women entrepreneurs in the agro-food sector across Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal, providing capacity building, technical assistance, market access, and financing support to 1,000 beneficiaries by 2028, supported by the Mastercard Foundation. Target audience: women entrepreneurs in the agro-food sector.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 5,000 women-owned SMEs strengthened
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• UN WomenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization supporting women's economic empowerment programs.
• UNICEFminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization for youth and women's empowerment initiatives.
• Orange FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner supporting digital and social initiatives.
• CAREminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization for women's empowerment programs.
• GIZ (Cluster Biodiversité et Forêts / ProForêt)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartners on Femmes & Bois Durable (FBD) program supporting women in sustainable forestry and reforestation in Côte d'Ivoire.
• EUMC / CECI / Affaire mondiale CanadaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartners on AWF EQUIP program in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Guinea.
• Profemme (GIZ)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner on AWF Trade program in Côte d'Ivoire.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• African Women's Development Fund (AWDF): Pan-African grantmaking foundation funding organizations working on women's rights and economic empowerment across the continent, including West Africa — closely parallel in its foundation-based, grant-funded model supporting women-led initiatives.
• Cherie Blair Foundation for Women: UK-based foundation focused on the economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs in Africa and Asia, combining training, mentoring, and access to finance — directly comparable in mission and program mix to Sephis' AWF/WAF/WAWI stack.
• TechnoServe: Operates enterprise development programs for smallholder farmers and SMEs across Africa (including Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana) with strong donor (Mastercard Foundation, GIZ) and agri-finance components — directly comparable to AWF AGRI and AWF EQUIP.
• African Guarantee Fund (AGF): Pan-African guarantee provider that de-risks bank lending to SMEs, including women entrepreneurs — a strategic partner of Sephis and a comparable model for blended-finance facilitation in West Africa.

Regional players

• ENDA Lead Cash Plus: West Africa-focused inclusive finance provider (Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Togo) offering microcredit and SME financing to underserved entrepreneurs — directly comparable to the financial-inclusion arm of WAWI/WAF.

Broad incumbents

• Mercy Corps (West Africa): Global humanitarian and economic development NGO with active women's economic empowerment programming in West Africa; broader portfolio than Sephis but overlapping donor base and program methods.
• Invest for Jobs (GIZ): German government initiative for job creation and SME support in Africa, including women's entrepreneurship — a current Sephis partner and a comparable funder/operator in the same programmatic space.

Emerging players

• Grameen Foundation: Implements digital financial inclusion and women's entrepreneurship programs in Africa and Asia with bank-partner distribution models — directly relevant comparable to the WAWI bank-partner credit-line approach.
• ProMujer: Operates integrated financial inclusion, training, and health programs for low-income women in Latin America and parts of Africa — comparable integrated service stack to Sephis' training-plus-finance model.

Others

• Busara Center for Behavioral Economics: Africa-focused research and advisory organization supporting evidence-based programs for women entrepreneurs and SMEs; comparable mission-aligned ecosystem player rather than direct competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/fondationsephis
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@fondationsephis
• Facebookfacebook.com/SEPHIS.OFFICIEL
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fondation-sephis

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Sephis Foundation