Five ways to work with SDC.

SDC designs the programme around your context: selection criteria, curriculum or competition format, mentorship structure and milestones, all grounded in research on your sector, target founders and objectives.

We then run it end to end: recruitment, selection, delivery, a final showcase and post-programme reporting. Every engagement closes with a documented impact summary.

Your organisation gets SDC OS, our learning platform, with your branding, your learner community and a content track tailored to your audience.

SDC's curriculum is pre-loaded and adapted to your audience. You own the learner experience and receive real-time data on enrolment, completion, and engagement.

SDC produces original research on behalf of, or in collaboration with, a partner on the African startup ecosystem, venture-building dynamics, or specific sectors.

Outputs include co-produced reports, custom ecosystem analyses, bespoke datasets, sector-specific briefings, and M&E frameworks for founder programmes. Partners can commission research outright or co-produce it, contributing data, field access, or funding in exchange for co-authorship and early access to findings.

Focused engagements with an institution's leadership to design or improve its founder support: which frameworks to use, how to structure programmes, and how to measure outcomes.

Typical outputs include programme design documents, framework application guides, M&E frameworks, ecosystem strategy papers, and structured recommendations. SDC does not embed in the partner's operations; it applies its frameworks to your specific context and hands over recommendations.

SDC trains your internal team to design, manage, and run your own founder or innovation programmes through structured workshops, executive training sessions, and applied capacity-building modules grounded in SDC's research and frameworks.

The focus is institutional strength in innovation management. SDC's role ends once your team is trained; we do not run the resulting programme. This can stand alone or follow a Research & Data or Advisory engagement.