The African Scalecraft research programme operates across two distinct streams.

The first was the FCDO RISA Fund-funded East African Data Collaborative, which ran from 2022 to the end of 2025 in partnership with GrowthAfrica, producing open data platforms in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Rwanda and 22 research deliverables - 12 insight reports, five venture case studies, and four thematic scaling articles co-produced with Scaleup Nation - all freely available.

The second is Systemic Innovation's independent research programme, which produced a many more formal publications and the Ecosystem Provocations series - on multilateral competition, offshore incorporation, ecosystem political economy, AI and scaling, and broader analytical frameworks - all done without external programme funding. This publication draws on both streams. The distinction matters: the independent work was produced because the funded programme could not cover the full scope of what the evidence base required. It was not commissioned. It was chosen.

We are grateful to the governments, development finance institutions, foundations, and multilateral partners and OECD whose efforts we build on - all of which have made this sustained research programme possible. The full breadth of these relationships is reflected in the work; it would not be appropriate to name some and not others. That said, for the ongoing research programme (2022–2026): we are particularly grateful to our government counterparts at MInT in Ethiopia and MINICT in Rwanda; to colleagues at UNDP, FCDO, and the RISA Fund; to tech our data provider Dealroom; to GrowthAfrica, to Professor Erik Stam at Utrecht University and Professor Kenneth Amaeshi at the European University Institute; to Sendemo; to the IGC team; ANDE; Menno van Dijk, and the team at Scaleup Nation; the African Group for Entrepreneurship Studies (AGES); and Sendemo; plus all the many founders, investors, ecosystem actors, and policymakers who have shared their time, insights, and data with us over four years. For the original 2022 publication: we acknowledge and appreciate the substantial intellectual contribution of Belinda Bowling, who co-authored the original study and brought 25 years of senior management experience across more than 25 African countries to its foundations. A special recognition goes out to all the Systemic Innovation’s team who have worked on our efforts in the past - they all deserves our thanks.

The original 2022 publication, Scaling Ventures in Africa, was funded by Innovate UK under the global cooperation feasibility studies programme, with additional financial support from Absa Group. Project delivery was supported by many other colleagues and contributors, including many African PhD students and interns.

We extend thanks to the original project board members: Amma Gyampo (Scale Up Africa); Hayat Chedid (Upshot); Ian Lorenzen (GrowthAfrica); Iyinoluwa Aboyeji (Future Africa / Accelerate Africa); Professor Kenneth Amaeshi (European University Institute); Michelle Anderson (Absa Group); Tomi Davies (ABAN). Several members of the original project board have remained engaged with the programme's subsequent work, and that continuity has mattered.

Primary research for the 2022 publication drew on interviews with: Abby Davidson (ANDE); Adetola Onayemi (Norebase); Amadou Chico Cissoko; Anna Ekeledo (AfriLabs); Ashwin Ravichandran (MEST); Aunnie Patton Power (Intelligent Impact); Bitange Ndemo (University of Nairobi); Bongani Sithole (Founders Factory Africa); Carl Mayo (HYBR); Chidi Okpala (Asante Financial Services Group); Derin Adebayo (Endeavor); Esme Verity (Considered Capital); Erika Wiese (Innovation Edge); Professor Joseph Amankwah-Amoah; Lelemba Phiri (Africa Trust Group); Llew Claasen (Newtown Partners); Marcello Schermer (Yoco); Mohamed Osman (Spring Impact); Olu Akanmu (OPay); Professor Seun Kolade (De Montfort University); Rajiv Daya (Founders Factory Africa); Sawa Nakagawa (Three Arrows Impact); Yaseen Khan (EMGuidance); Yvonne Okafor (Untapped Global); Zach George (Launch Africa) - and more than 100 additional ecosystem contributors whose perspectives informed the analysis.