The GSMA Innovation Fund for Mobile Internet Adoption and Digital Inclusion has been launched to support start-ups or SMEs that help people in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia regions get online for the first time using mobile internet.

The Fund seeks to offer support of between £100,000 and £250,000 - out of a total fund value of £2.5 million - to about 20 winning projects to enable them scale their innovation over a 15- to 18-month period as part of efforts to help countries within these regions close their large usage gap.

“While the reach of mobile networks has expanded significantly in recent years, there is a huge ‘usage gap’, with 3.3 billion people covered by a mobile broadband network but who are not using mobile internet services,” says GSMA’s Marketing Manager for Connected Women and Connected Society, Rosie Leary. “Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are the two regions with the largest usage gap globally which is why we are targeting countries within these regions for this Fund.”

The Fund will support solutions that tackle barriers to greater mobile internet adoption, including accessibility, affordability, digital skills, safety and security.

Start-ups and SMEs in the regions are targeted beneficiaries because previous grants show they have the best track record of delivery and the greatest need for funding, Leary notes.

Mobile networks may have become the primary way of accessing the internet in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), driving economic growth, enabling access to life-enhancing services, and creating multiple opportunities for people and businesses to thrive.

However, Leary adds that a significant portion of the population - citizens that tend to belong to the most marginalised groups and are disproportionately rural, female and illiterate - still remains offline.

“Based on current trends, 40% of the population in LMICs will still be offline by 2025,” she said about the equity-free grant opportunity whose deadline for project submission is 22 May 2020.

Also joining in an Africa-focused project-funding effort is Asoko Insight which just extended its digital DealRoom platform launched in January 2020 in partnership with the UK’s Department for International Trade.

As a result, the deal origination platform -which has reportedly published over 40 opportunities from African firms and facilitated 34 matches with UK-based investors for further discussion, will now continue matching UK investors and businesses to fund-seeking African corporates for a further six months.