(GIZ) - The BioInnovation Africa (BIA) project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. Whereas the GIZ is a stateowned organisation. We work worldwide in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development. We offer the experience, the regional and technical know-how of GIZ in the global market and provide.

The BIA project aims to foster and enhance equitable European-African business partnerships that contribute to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in Cameroon, Madagascar, Namibia and South Africa.

What are we looking for?

GIZ is looking for committed partners (at least one of them being registered in Europe) with concrete and economically viable proposals to advance business opportunities in Africa, in line with the objectives of the BioInnovation Africa project and UNCTAD BioTrade principles.

Through the business relationship between the (African and European) project partners the BIA project is particularly interested in proposals that seek to:

• develop new ingredients or new applications of ingredients derived from Cameroon biodiversity in sectors such as food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, flavors and fragrances;
• strengthen and improve existing supply chains for export to Europe (export readiness);
• capacitate local suppliers to meet demands and requirements of the international market;
• introduce and implement a recognized requirement for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use – oriented by the respective (draft) "National Guidelines on the Use of Benefit Sharing for Biodiversity Conservation";
• strengthen the capacities, equal representation and active engagement of women and other marginalized groups further up the value chain (transformative approaches are highly welcome);
• improving processing capacities in the provider countries, e.g., through technology transfer;
• advance compliance with ABS rules and regulations in Cameroon; and/or
• render concrete impacts within a period of two years and clearly defined milestones until 05/2024 in Cameroon.

Expression of interest

We invite African and European project partner’ companies and business organizations interested in partnering with GIZ to submit ‘expressions of interest’ (EoI) that aim at developing or scaling up existing supply and value chains, which are based on African biodiversity and respect the UNCTAD BioTrade principles

Detailed information about the Call, the template for expressions of interest, selection criteria and further background information are available for download at the following link: www.abs-biotrade.info/call23.

Eligible European and African companies are invited to submit their expression of interest via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. until latest Tuesday, 20 June 2023 COB.

Please quote reference “BioInnovation Africa II EoI” when submitting the documentation.

Late submissions will not be accepted.