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Capital is often cited as the primary hurdle for early-stage ventures. But our experience shows that capital alone isn't enough. The real barrier is the Access Gap.

This gap manifests in several ways: lack of access to the right networks, absence of strategic mentorship, and limited visibility into global best practices. Many brilliant founders are building in silos, disconnected from the resources that could catalyze their growth.

At Break The Mold, we are redesigning ecosystem support by focusing on:

• Strategic Fluency: Equipping founders to confidently articulate their vision in any room, whether with investors or partners.
• Curated Connections: Facilitating introductions that go beyond superficial networking, focusing on long-term value alignment.
• Peer Exchange: Creating safe spaces for founders to share challenges and crowdsource solutions.

Bridging this gap requires a holistic approach. When we combine capital with access and fluency, we unlock the true potential of African entrepreneurship.

Welcome to From The Ground — a snapshot of what's shaping the impact space, from the field to our work at Break The Mold, focused on African social entrepreneurship.

Break The Mold Cohort 2 is live!

We've kicked off Cohort 2, continuing to support African social entrepreneurs building and scaling solutions across the continent. This cohort brings together founders working at the intersection of food systems, regenerative agriculture, climate resilience, and peacebuilding — spanning Cameroon and Ivory Coast.

• A regenerative agriculture and education initiative in Cameroon, empowering internally displaced youth and marginalised communities to build climate-resilient livelihoods through ecological farming systems.
• A cooperative in Ivory Coast focused on rice mechanisation, improving productivity and reducing the burden of agricultural labour for youth and women.
• A peace-tech organisation in Cameroon using indigenous knowledge systems and digital tools to address youth radicalisation and farmer–grazer conflicts through environmental stewardship and inclusive governance.

Question from the Ground: Grant ready vs investor ready

During our opening session, one fellow asked: what is the difference between "grant ready" and "investor ready"? After navigating the impact space, he'd heard: "you're grant ready but not investor ready."

Grant ready is about being able to write grant applications, justifying impact, reporting to a donor. Investor ready is a different beast — it's about articulating a market opportunity, managing risk perception, and speaking the language of return.

Here's what we believe at Break The Mold: both mechanics matter. The problem lies in not knowing the difference — and consequently being unable to switch registers when the room changes. The gap Break The Mold exists to close isn't just access. It's fluency.

Funding opportunity worth exploring

The DIV Fund (Development Innovation Ventures) supports high-impact innovations tackling global development challenges through flexible, stage-based grant funding (pilot, validation, scale). It backs solutions that are cost-effective, evidence-driven, and designed to scale if proven effective. Open to startups, NGOs, researchers, and social enterprises across health, education, climate, and financial inclusion.

Impact investors vs impact economy investors

Shared by Haadia (our Head of Partnerships & Sponsorship) — a timely distinction between impact investors (who deploy capital for measurable social/environmental returns) and impact economy investors (who also help build the infrastructure of a different economy). According to the author, impact economy investors are essential if we want to build a regenerative economy — a relevant distinction at a moment when the definition of impact investing is being questioned in the field.

Have a thought, a reaction, or a question? Send us an email at contact@breakthemold.space — we read every message.

Recorded live at the ChangeNOW 2025 summit — the global exposition of solutions for the planet held at the Grand Palais in Paris — this episode of RFI's 8 Milliards de Voisins brought together four women entrepreneurs from across Africa working at the intersection of gender and the green economy.

The episode explored a central question: How do you develop female leadership in green jobs? And what progress still needs to be made on equitable access to resources, education, and training — given that women and girls are both the primary victims of drought and pollution, and the key drivers of climate transition in their communities?

Clémence Betesuku, co-founder of Break The Mold, joined the conversation alongside three other African women changemakers:

• Cathy Latiwa — Lawyer, programme advisor, inclusion and gender expert, founder of Latiwa Development Foundation and co-founder of BuildHerAFutureAfrica
• Sarah Kayiranga — Director and founder of JumCare, an advisory firm for industrial sector businesses
• Carole Tankeu — Co-founder of Sustainable Solutions-S2 Services (Douala, Cameroon), specialised in environmental governance, gender, energy and sustainable development. Founder of Women for Sustainable Energy and Climate Action (W4SECA)

Most entrepreneurs in the impact space default to the pitch — data, metrics, business models. But the ones who actually open doors make investors and partners feel something first. Data matters. But data without story doesn't move people. The disconnect happens when an entrepreneur hasn't yet fully owned their story — the metrics exist, but they float, unanchored, disconnected from the human truth behind them.

Clémence Betesuku, co-founder of Break The Mold and founder of The Uplift, delivered this workshop to Catalyst Now members from francophone Africa. The question it set out to answer: How do you tell the story only you can tell — in a way that makes the right people want to be part of it?

The Three-Act Structure

• Début — Establish the world as it is and the tension that exists within it
• Élément perturbateur — The disruption, the problem, the moment everything changed
• Horizon — The future you're building toward, and why you're the one to build it

CLA Applied to Entrepreneurial Storytelling

• Layer 1 — Litany: "Here is my business model" → The classic pitch. Necessary but not sufficient.
• Layer 2 — Social: "Here is why investors should trust me" → Implicit expectations about credibility.
• Layer 3 — Structural: "Here are the biases keeping me from being heard" → e.g. having to prove twice as much as others.
• Layer 4 — Mythic: "Here is the future I want to create — and why it matters to you" → The trailer. The vision that makes people want to be part of it.

Dominique Ouedraogo's journey — from Ouagadougou to the TED Countdown Global Stage — was used as a live case study throughout. He didn't open doors because of his slides. He opened them because his story made people feel: "I want to be part of this future."

What Participants Said

What landed: The clear distinction between storytelling and pitch · The three-act structure · Dominique's story as a concrete, inspiring example · The emotional connection angle · The interactive format

What they asked for next: More hands-on exercises · Follow-up sessions on pitch after storytelling · More time for personalised feedback