Cabo Verde Digital: “A success story”
Since 2020, Cabo Verde Digital has been working to foster business-friendly environments through technology. Since then, 100 startups have been incubated during the 4th editions and 200 young people have benefited. At a national level, the program has already received around 500 startups, with a total of around a thousand young people.
The mission of the CV Digital program is to promote various programs and initiatives with an emphasis on financing, digital skills training, the creation of networking spaces, the facilitation of technological infrastructures, access to the market, as well as advocating with the government for exemption from certain fees and taxes.
Over the years, various programs such as Bolsa Cabo Verde Digital, Go Global and Rivent have made their mark on the technological world in Cape Verde.
Bolsa Cabo Verde Digital, according to the coordinator of CV Digital, Cabral, has been a pre-incubation program for ideas that uses technology to solve problems in any area as long as it has technology at its base.
This program, which manages around 15 initiatives and is 90% online, aims to turn the country into a benchmark in development, in the digital economy and to highlight Cape Verde as a model in innovation and knowledge in the sub-region.
It should also be said that this program, which lasts three months, always provides financial support of 60,000 escudos, in addition to the participants also receiving mentoring, training and technical assistance during the program period.
As a curiosity, registration for this 5th edition has been open since Maio, with the last day of registration until tomorrow, June 19th. In this edition, the program will benefit 50 entrepreneurs and, as usual, 25 start-up promoters.
In addition to the Bolsa CV Digita program, there is also Go Global. It creates opportunities for Cape Verdean entrepreneurs and start-ups to access international forums.
Reivent, on the other hand, is another open innovation program that focuses on identifying problems in a given sector and converting them into problem statements, in which a dynamic of co-creation of solutions is promoted to solve the problems presented and thus mobilize resources to finance these projects.
Of these three programs, the Cabo Verde Digital Scholarship, based on the four editions already held and the results achieved and the young people reached, is undoubtedly a success story. Underlines the coordinator of the Cabo Verde Digital program, Milson Cabral.
Cabral also takes as an example the success story of the young Cape Verdean audodidact Marcelo. This young man, who has only completed secondary school, has always been connected to CV Digital because he sees it as a place where he can learn and grow in what he would like to be in the future.
As he began his process of self-development of his skills, Marcelo quickly grew in terms of acquiring experience and soft skills, which has earned him a job in software development today. Today, at less than twenty-five years old, Marcelo works for international and national companies.
In addition to Cabo Verde Digital, this young man has already been through training programs at American universities such as Harvard and is always in contact with large companies in various parts of the world.
Marcelo’s example is just one of so many young people who, with just a few opportunities, are quickly waking up to the world, diving deep into the technological world that has been gaining more and more strength and power in recent years.
