Open call: Incubator to support cultural entrepreneurs in Southern Africa

As part of this initiative, organisers are inviting applications from an incubator – or a consortium of organisations that jointly meet the selection criteria – to train, coach, and support selected cultural entrepreneurs through a structured incubation and coaching programme.

The programme will run from November 2025 to October 2026. It will begin with the selection of 50 entrepreneurs, followed by a coaching phase from February to March 2026. An incubation phase for 15 selected entrepreneurs will take place from April to October 2026.

Selection timeline

• Launch of the call for proposals: 7 August 2025
• Submission deadline: 7 September 2025
• Review of applications: 9 to 16 September 2025
• Interviews with incubators: 22 September 2025
• Contract signing and start of missions: 13 October 2025

The project is coordinated by the Embassy of France in South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi, and the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) – the cultural arm of the Embassy – with support from the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

The full call for incubators can be downloaded here.

View the original call here.