The Malian government has drafted a document to allow relevant stakeholders to review the frameworks and policies that will make up the country’s first Startup Act.
Speaking at the inaugural Francophone Africa Early Stage Investor Summit (FAIS) in Bamako recently, Mali’s minister of digital economy Arouna Modibo Toure said the country was planning to bring a Startup Act into law to assist the development of the local innovation ecosystem.
With that in mind, the government has released a policy document and invited all relevant stakeholders to review the proposals, after which it will pull everything together into a formal bill. The aim is to facilitate the growth of the local startup scene by creating an enabling environment for innovation, investment and job creation.
Legislating for the growth of Africa’s startup space has become something of a trend. In May of last year, African innovation leaders met on the sidelines of the Transform Africa Summit in Kigali to co-create the Africa Innovation Policy Manifesto.
These attempts at co-creation of policies are now occurring at a more local level, with Tunisia passing a Startup Act last year and Senegal also in the process of doing so.
