Cascador, a transformative program for mid-stage African entrepreneurs, reaffirmed its commitment to driving impact during its recent Alumni Meeting in Ikeja. Founded in 2019, the initiative focuses on empowering entrepreneurs to create social and economic change through for-profit ventures.
Dave DeLucia, Founder of Cascador, emphasized the program's mission: “Impact takes many forms—social change, job creation, innovative problem-solving, or empowering marginalized communities. Instead of offering grants or working solely through NGOs, we choose to empower entrepreneurs who are solving problems and driving impact through sustainable businesses.”
DeLucia highlighted Cascador’s role in equipping entrepreneurs with leadership skills, financial acumen, and access to capital. “By helping them scale, we enable their companies to create real impact. Beyond business success, we hope to inspire humility, philanthropy, and a sense of community among these leaders to give back to their country and community for years to come,” he said.
Trish Thomas, Director of Cascador, outlined the program’s enhanced curriculum for 2024, which offers entrepreneurs more time to implement their learning within their teams. “Our curriculum now allows founders to complete a three-week customer research project, share insights with their teams, and receive tailored support to apply findings to their business models,” she explained.
Thomas also noted that Cascador fosters stronger bonds between cohort members and teaches a more holistic approach to business development. This year, Cascador further demonstrated its commitment to Nigerian entrepreneurs by awarding $5,000 USD stipends to each cohort member.
“It’s incredibly challenging to be an entrepreneur in Nigeria today. With tough lending standards, high inflation, unfavorable FX rates, and limited access to outside capital, this stipend provides much-needed relief and encouragement,” Thomas added.
Cascador continues to innovate and invest in Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, empowering founders to create sustainable businesses and lasting impact.
“We encouraged our entrepreneurs to use this capital for personal and professional development to grow as a leader and access much needed training and support. We conclude each Cascador programme with a pitch day. In 2024, for the first time, we awarded three cash prizes: Impact Award ($20,000 USD): Chioma Ifeanyi-Eze, Accountinghub. Chioma is transforming digital literacy across Africa through Data Entry Academy, a training programme that is empowering adults with crucial workplace skills. Pitch Competition Winner ($20,000 USD): Godwin Benson, Tuteria. Godwin is revolutionizing access to quality education through an innovative tutoring platform and curated tutor-student matching that particularly serves children with special learning needs.
And finally, Exemplary Cascador Award ($10,000 USD): Oluwaseyi Adefemi, Drive45 Mobility. Seyi was honoured by his peers for outstanding leadership, collaboration, and his innovative approach to democratizing vehicle ownership through subscription services” Ms. Thomas revealed.
Speaking of the Cascador Alumni community, Programme Director of Cascador, Amanda Etuk said, “We have always maintained connectivity and advisory level availability to our Cascador alumni, but our support for our alumni community is about to increase dramatically. We have historically hosted regular alumni dinners, mentored on a case-by-case basis, made introductions, and offered guidance on strategy and governance - that will all continue.
But through additional funding for our endowment in 2024, hiring a full-time team, and engaging more contract professionals, we will have far greater time and resources to develop our Cascador founders. We are still working on the details (announcement coming soon!), but we will be investing and lending substantial capital to our alumni in 2025 and beyond. We will also be providing more ongoing education, networking opportunities, and improved mentorship and services to everyone who has participated in Cascador in the future,” she stated.
On 2025 and new programme features or benefits, she said, “We're still working out the details on some aspects of our 2025 expansion, but I can share a few things in advance. Our new, expanded Cascador programme will continue this year. The alumni community can expect a much higher level of engagement, education and support from us. And thanks to a large funding infusion into our Foundation, we will be able to annually award loans and investment capital to our alumni. Once we have the details of our capital plan finalized, we will share the news publicly. But suffice it to say that alumni will have some great opportunities coming.”
Elaborating on the motivation behind the volunteers and effort to developing entrepreneurial leaders in Africa, DeLucia stressed that Nigeria offers such fertile ground for impact! “We love working with entrepreneurs who are smart, motivated, mission-driven and operate successful businesses in a very difficult business environment. “
According to him, “Our faculty are committed to making the world a better place and supporting and inspiring the business leaders of tomorrow. It is an honour to share our expertise, wisdom, connections and capital with such dedicated founders who will apply it to solve problems, help others and scale. Our faculty and mentors also hope that their example will contribute to a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in Nigeria and a spirit of cooperation and giving back that will lift the entire economy and society.”
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