ENTERPRISE54 – The African Management Initiative (AMI) has secured a $750,000 investment in convertible debt from the Lundin Foundation and Isibindi Trust to build a web and mobile platform and fund operational expenses as it scales up to empower 20,000 African managers and entrepreneurs in 2014 through practical, accessible and locally relevant learning and development tools.

Access to risk capital is no longer the primary constraint limiting SME development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Instead, it is management capacity,” said Stephen Nairne, Managing Director of the Lundin Foundation. “AMI has developed a scalable, innovative technology platform, content partnerships with leading academic institutions in the region, and a delivery model that focuses on applied learning and outcomes for managers.”

Partnering with Africa’s leading business schools – including Kenya’s Strathmore Business School, South Africa’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) and Nigeria’s Lagos Business School, AMI works with individuals and organisations, and has already empowered over 1,000 managers in 25 countries. It aims to reach 1 million managers by 2023.

“We are enthusiastic about the Isibindi Trust’s investment in AMI to bring high quality, relevant African content to African managers,” said Jennifer Oppenheimer, Co-Founder of the Trust. “We continue to be excited by the game-changing advances in interactive online technology across the educational landscape. We believe AMI’s online platform will significantly increase access for management talent to excellent management education and tools.”

AMI will be launching Africa’s first social learning and development platform in July 2014. The first course on the new platform, Managing Markets and Customers, will be available online for free to managers across the continent and is already open for registration.

AMI is also offering offline Learning Lab workshops in partnership with organisations and businesses in East Africa, and will soon be expanding into West and Southern Africa. AMI’s platform and content is developed with mobile in mind and for an environment where bandwidth is often constrained.

AMI is a pan-African social enterprise incorporated in Mauritius with its operational headquarters in Nairobi. AMI is dedicated to empowering African managers and entrepreneurs through practical and accessible learning and development tools.

Founded in 2005, the Lundin Foundation is a private foundation with headquarters in Vancouver, Canada and offices in Nairobi and Accra. The Foundation provides seed grants, technical assistance, and patient risk capital to innovative, scalable SMEs and social enterprises across Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Isibindi Trust works to strengthen local initiatives in education, policy, and social development throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.