The FoodSafety4Africa (FS4Africa) Open Call 2 is now accepting applications from eligible innovation hubs across Africa seeking funding to provide training, mentoring, and business acceleration support to food safety innovators, entrepreneurs, and startups.
With a total funding budget of €200,000, the programme expects to support at least five projects, with each successful applicant eligible to receive up to €40,000 in financial support.
About FS4Africa
FoodSafety4Africa (FS4Africa) is a Horizon Europe-funded initiative working to strengthen food safety systems across Africa, with a particular focus on the informal food sector.
The initiative aims to promote food safety innovation, transform local food markets, and support solutions that contribute to:
- Food security
- Improved public health
- Regional and international trade
- Environmental sustainability
- Stronger food safety systems across Africa
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Who Is This Open Call For?
The second FS4Africa Open Call is specifically designed for innovation hubs capable of delivering structured training, mentoring, and business acceleration services.
Successful innovation hubs will support food businesses, entrepreneurs, startups, and beneficiaries of the first FS4Africa open call to strengthen their businesses and prepare for sustainable growth
Funding Available
The Open Call 2 has a total budget of:
- Total funding: €200,000
- Maximum funding per project: €40,000
- Number of projects: At least 5
- Funding mechanism: Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP)
The maximum financial contribution available to an individual selected project is €40,000.
Who Can Apply?
The call is designed specifically for innovation hubs and organisations capable of delivering structured capacity-building programmes.
Applicants must:
- Be a legal entity established in an eligible Horizon Europe country.
- Apply as a single entity.
- Submit only one proposal.
- Have the capacity to design and deliver training and mentoring activities.
- Be able to support food safety entrepreneurs, startups and innovation projects.
- Demonstrate relevant organisational, technical and/or business expertise.
Consortium applications are not allowed. FS4Africa will accept only one entity per proposal.
What Will Selected Organisations Do?
Successful applicants will be required to develop and implement a structured programme containing at least six training and mentoring activities during the project implementation period.
These activities must have clearly defined:
- Objectives
- Target beneficiaries
- Learning outcomes
- Delivery methods
- Follow-up actions
- Measurable outputs
Simple lectures without structured training, mentoring, measurable outcomes or alignment with FS4Africa objectives will not be sufficient.
1. Support Open Call 1 Beneficiaries
Applicants must provide at least two training activities supporting at least two different Open Call 1 beneficiaries.
The training should respond to the specific needs of the supported projects and relevant food safety challenges.
2. Support FS4Africa Use Cases
Applicants must also deliver at least four training and mentoring activities for actors involved in one or more FS4Africa Use Cases.
The selected Open Call 2 projects will coordinate their activities with other successful applicants to ensure that the different FS4Africa Use Cases receive balanced support and that activities do not unnecessarily overlap.
What Can the Training and Mentoring Cover?
The programme may support areas including:
- Refining business value propositions
- Identifying target markets
- Strengthening business models
- Developing sustainable revenue streams
- Improving financial sustainability
- Social innovation
- Community engagement
- Gender inclusion
- Local ecosystem integration
- Business scaling and replication
- Market access
- Regulatory awareness
- Ecosystem integration
- Impact measurement
- Investment readiness
Training may be delivered through online courses, webinars, interactive workshops, mentoring clinics and other structured capacity-building formats.
Programme Timeline
Successful projects are expected to begin implementation in February 2027 and run for eight months, ending in September 2027.
The implementation will take place in three phases:
Phase 1 – Design
February 2027: 1 month
Selected organisations will develop their training activity plan.
Phase 2 – Development
March–July 2027: 5 months
Training and mentoring activities will be delivered.
Phase 3 – Validation
August–September 2027: 2 months
Projects will validate results and submit their final training activity report.
Grant Payment Structure
The €40,000 maximum grant is distributed in three stages:
- 20% during the Design phase
- 50% during the Development phase
- 30% during the Validation phase
Payments are linked to the required project deliverables.
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Important Dates
Application period: 18 May – 31 August 2026
Application deadline: 31 August 2026, 17:00 CET. With the deadline approaching, eligible organisations should prepare and submit their proposals before the closing time.
How to Apply
Applications must be submitted digitally through the OpenCalls.fund platform.
Applicants should review the official Open Call documents, including the Applicants’ Guide, proposal template, budget template, Declaration of Honour, FAQs and model sub-grant agreement, before submitting their proposal.
Apply through the official FS4Africa Open Call page:
FS4Africa Open Call 2 – Official Application Page
