The Startup Ecosystem of Cape Verde

Cape Verde is an island nation off the west coast of Africa with a population of just over 500,000 people. The country enjoys a strong public sector commitment to empower its national startup ecosystem. A new and energetic community of local entrepreneurs has already formed on the Island, and is generating high quality innovations with the potential to expand regionally and globally. Leading those efforts is NOSI, a public sector organization dealing with the management of information society in Cabo Verde. Additionally, the Cabo Verde Remote Working Program allows digital nomads to stay in the country for 6 months with an option to extend for another 6 months. Additionally, the green card is a permanent residence permit for foreigners who are willing to relocate in Cape Verde and benefit from tax exemptions. These initiatives have also successfully attracted foreign entrepreneurs and digital nomads to Cape Verde, likely due to great year-round weather and an easy connection to Portugal. The Cape Verde government provides support for early stage startups as well as digital training for entrepreneurs. It is also fortunate to see agencies such as Cabo Verde Trade Invest getting involved in shaping the country’s narrative and promoting its advantages to the international community. Pró Empresa, a public sector agency tasked with promoting competitiveness and entrepreneurship, has set programs in place to encourage innovation among the younger generation.
Cape Verde enjoys a strategic geographic location that will likely be leveraged in the future to create infrastructure on a global level between Africa, the Americas, and Europe. The main challenges for startups in Cape Verde are the country’s physical infrastructure and an undeveloped investment climate. Yet, the public sector initiatives mentioned above mitigate some of these concerns. Another challenge is a preference among most of the local population to avoid risk and entrepreneurship, opting for jobs in the more comfortable and certain public sector.