FS4Africa Open Call 2 (OC2) is a Horizon Europe-funded cascade funding opportunity designed to strengthen Africa's food safety innovation ecosystem by supporting innovation hubs that deliver training, mentoring, and business acceleration programmes.

The call aims to improve food safety across African agrifood systems by supporting innovation hubs that can build the capacity of entrepreneurs, startups, SMEs, and food system actors working on food safety challenges.

Selected innovation hubs will implement structured training and mentoring programmes that help scale innovative food safety solutions, strengthen business readiness, and accelerate market adoption.

The programme contributes to safer, more resilient, and sustainable agrifood systems while improving food security, regional trade, public health, and environmental sustainability across Africa.

Focus Areas

Projects should support innovation related to:

• Food safety in African agrifood systems
• Agrifood innovation
• Entrepreneurship and startup acceleration
• Capacity building
• Innovation ecosystems
• Digital agriculture
• Food quality assurance
• Aflatoxin management
• Pesticide residue reduction
• Safe aquaculture
• Microbial contamination management
• Informal food markets

Total Call Budget

€200,000

At least 5 projects will be funded, with each project eligible for up to €40,000 in 100% funded support.

Required Activities

Each selected project must deliver at least six structured activities including:

• Training programmes
• Mentoring sessions
• Business acceleration
• Capacity building
• Support to Open Call 1 beneficiaries
• Support to FS4Africa Use Cases

Training may be delivered through:

• Webinars
• Workshops
• Online courses
• Mentoring clinics
• Innovation bootcamps