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Good practice Imported

Lesotho Entrepreneurship Hub & Seed Financing Facility (LEHSFF)

Lesotho · Maseru · See the Lesotho profile · See the Maseru profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 50% 67/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A government seed-financing and incubation facility has capacitated 27 local support organisations and incubated 150 enterprises (92 women-led, 111 youth-led), with 138 firms receiving matching grants that together created over 2,400 jobs by late 2025.

27 ESOs
Entrepreneurship Support Organisations capacitated (by Oct 2025)
150 enterprises (92 women-led, 111 youth-led)
Enterprises incubated (by Oct 2025)
1,200+ jobs
Jobs created (incubated enterprises) (by Oct 2025)
138 enterprises
Enterprises receiving matching grants (by Oct 2025)
2,417 jobs
Jobs created (matching-grant enterprises) (by Oct 2025)
Lesotho Entrepreneurship Hub & Seed Financing Facility (LEHSFF)

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Government of Lesotho, Ministry of Trade, Industry, Business Development and Tourism — CAFI Project
Period
2023–2026
Keywords
entrepreneurship, seed finance, women and youth economic empowerment, business incubation

Context

Lesotho's Ministry of Trade, Industry, Business Development and Tourism launched the Lesotho Entrepreneurship Hub and Seed Financing Facility (LEHSFF) in June 2023 under the World Bank-supported Competitiveness and Financial Inclusion (CAFI) Project, aiming to make early-stage enterprises — particularly those led by women and youth — bankable and investor-ready.

Activities

The facility works through two linked mechanisms: training and capacitating local Entrepreneurship Support Organisations (ESOs) to run incubation cycles, and operating a matching-grant and seed-capital fund for enterprises that graduate from incubation.

Results

By October 2025, LEHSFF had capacitated 27 ESOs and incubated 150 enterprises (92 women-led, 111 youth-led), together reporting creating over 1,200 jobs; separately, 138 enterprises received matching grants, reporting a combined 2,417 jobs created. A fifth incubation cycle opened for applications in February 2026, running through August 2026.

Conclusions

Job and enterprise counts are self-reported by the CAFI project and its ESO network, as republished by independent Lesotho outlets and the Government of Lesotho; no independent audit of the job or survival figures was located.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
Government of Lesotho, Ministry of Trade, Industry, Business Development and Tourism, 27 capacitated Entrepreneurship Support Organisations

Conditions for success

  • Two-part design: capacitate local ESOs, then seed-fund their incubation graduates
  • World Bank-backed CAFI financing sustaining multiple incubation cycles

Common failure modes

  • Job and enterprise counts are self-reported by the CAFI project, not independently audited

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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