From the Chairperson
The past twelve months have reinforced the importance of entrepreneurship as a force for good. In a challenging and rapidly changing world, small businesses have demonstrated extraordinary innovation in helping to solve our most pressing problems.
ygap is proud to stand alongside these entrepreneurs, providing them with the resources, mentorship, and networks they need to not only survive but thrive. Our commitment to building a more just and inclusive world remains unwavering. With the continued support of our partners, donors, and the whole ygap team, we will ensure that grassroots innovation flourishes, and in doing so, move closer to a world where opportunity is truly accessible to all.
After a long and thorough recruitment process, I am thrilled to welcome Meenal Khare as our incoming CEO in the second half of 2024. I look forward to seeing her vision for ygap play out as she leads the organisation into this next phase. A sincere thank-you to ygap’s former Chief Executive Officer, Mark Harwood, for his work leading the organisation since March 2020. On behalf of ygap, I’d like to acknowledge his service and wish him all the best in the next chapter of his career.
As we look ahead to 2025, I am excited about the path forward. With your ongoing support, we will continue to empower entrepreneurs who are creating meaningful, lasting change in their communities.
Thank you for your support on this journey.
Nima Sedaghat, ygap Chairperson
Our Board
Nima Sedaghat
Catherine Scalzo
Tim Middlemiss
Yih-Jeh Teen
Simba Marekera
Kristy Graham
Kate Gilkison
Chairperson, Audit and Risk Committee
Nima Sedaghat
For over 15 years, Nima has been advising entrepreneurs, business owners, executives, and Australian and foreign investors, on restructures, mergers, acquisitions and investment transactions. He has been appointed to senior roles in various leading professional service organisations and is currently a capital partner and management advisory committee member of law firm HWL Ebsworth. Nima is a co-founder of WayFinder Capital, a specialist fund manager investing in entrepreneurs seeking to acquire and operate businesses in the mid-market sector. Nima brings his extensive transactional M&A, investment and fundraising expertise to the ygap board.
People, Culture and Nominations Committee
Catherine Scalzo
Scalzo Foods is one of Australia’s largest privately owned food companies, but it’s Cathy’s experience as the head of the company’s social impact arm that has brought her further into the world of business for good. As a trustee of the Grace and Emilio Foundation, Cathy has supported charities such as Eat Up, and ReachOut, and invested in social businesses like HireUp. Cathy’s expertise lies in business, impact investing and profit for purpose, and she has a strong background in governance, as a Director on the boards of the West Melbourne Economic Alliance, Kids in Philanthropy and the Social Studio Organisation.
Chair - People, Culture and Nominations Committee
Tim Middlemiss
Tim was a founding director of for-purpose creative studio, Agency, which partnered with domestic and global organisations, businesses and civic bodies to deliver impact-driven campaigns, including the United Nations World Humanitarian Day. Agency was named New Agency of the Year 2015 and one of Westpac’s Businesses Of Tomorrow in 2017. Tim was also the creator and presenter of World Vision’s youth leadership conferences globally, presenting to tens of thousands of young people. Tim was previously Head of Communications and Engagement for impact investment firm Leapfrog, and is now focused entirely on Ripple which he co-founded – a digital platform of tools and opportunities for young people to develop purposeful careers. Tim was also named as an inaugural Obama Foundation Leader for the Asia Pacific.
Audit and Risk Committee, People Culture and Nominations Committee
Yih-Jeh Teen
Yih-Jeh is a social impact innovation leader with over 15 years of global experience in strategic business and technology transformation working with large international organisations, ASX listed companies and not-for-profits. She has worked across Asia, the Pacific Islands, North America and Australia. Currently, Yih-Jeh is the Product Manager Leader for the deposit portfolio at Bank Australia, and previously worked for The Fred Hollows Foundation as Head of Innovation, and Save the Children Australia as Head of Strategy and Business Consulting. She started her career and worked for over 12 years with Accenture specialising in the Financial Services and International Development sector. Yih-Jeh brings a unique blend of business, innovation, digital, technology, strategy, organisational transformation and governance experience to the ygap board.
Simba Marekera
Simba Marekera is an impact investing executive who specialises in innovative financing and blended finance across a variety of Private Markets asset classes including infrastructure, real estate and credit/private debt both in developed and developing markets. Simba is active philanthropist focused on empowerment of beneficiaries. He co-founded New Africa Foundation, a charitable organisation that exists to empower African communities through targeted philanthropy and promoting local impact businesses with a focus in education, healthcare and entrepreneurship. He also co-founded EdFin, a fintech company that provides affordable and responsible education financing for international students, migrants and other financially excluded members of the Australia community. He holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Yale University, Masters in Social Change Leadership from University of Melbourne and Masters in Applied Finance from Western Sydney University.
Audit and Risk Committee
Kristy Graham
Kristy is the inaugural Executive Officer of the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute. Established following the collaborative effort to develop the Australian Sustainable Finance Roadmap, ASFI works to create a financial system in Australia that can support a sustainable, resilient and prosperous future for all Australians. By working across the finance sector, with government, regulators, research institutions and peak bodies, ASFI drives implementation of the Australian Sustainable Finance Roadmap. With a background in sustainable finance and impact investing across the public and private sectors, prior to ASFI Kristy led the Australian Government’s work with private and institutional investors to mobilise capital for climate and social impact in Australia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. In this role she established the Australian Government’s first impact investment fund, designed to build sustainable and inclusive financial markets in Southeast Asia. She was also a special advisor on the Prime Minister’s Social Impact Investing Taskforce in 2020. She has previously worked in Australia, Latin America, the UK and in global roles for large and small organisations, driving global progress on sustainability issues. She holds a BSc (Environmental) and a Masters in Environmental Law from the University of Sydney and an MBA (Social Impact) from AGSM at UNSW.
Company Secretary
Kate Gilkison
Kate Gilkison works in project coordination for an ARC Centre of Excellence based at the University of Melbourne. With postgraduate qualifications in International Development and Business, Kate has worked across the education sector, in project management, evaluation and facilitation, including several years spent living and working abroad. Kate has a passion for volunteering and has previously volunteered with non-profits such as Australian Red Cross, Climates and AMES Australia. In 2019, she participated in the Observership Program, joining the Oxfam Australia Board of Directors as an Observer. Kate joined ygap as Company Secretary in March 2021.
From the CEO
I am delighted to join ygap as Chief Executive Officer with a vision to create lasting change through locally-led social entrepreneurship, working with the global team across South Africa, Kenya, Fiji, and Australia, to achieve long-term outcomes for under-estimated entrepreneurs and the communities they serve.
During my recent trip to Africa, I witnessed the ripple of impact created by ygap alumni in the region, from access to affordable education and housing, to addressing food security through organic agriculture. Their social ventures and connection in ygap’s mission held tremendous potential, and I look forward to exploring how emerging technology and ecosystem partnerships can unlock deeper engagement across regional and global cohorts.
I was honoured to congratulate 3 female founders as the first recipients of ygap’s yCapital fund in Kenya, accessing 0% interest loans between A$25,000-50,000. I anticipate raising further investment both within Australia and overseas to provide access to innovative financing models for women-led social ventures within our portfolio, closing a critical funding gap to scale impact. ygap is grateful for the continued support of co-investors, Judith Neilson Foundation and Grow Corp, who generously contributed to the recyclable fund and core program that enabled investment readiness.
Observing ygap’s program in South Africa highlighted how practical knowledge and tailored mentorship coupled with spaces to nurture community, uniquely position us in the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem. I am confident we are equipped to respond to challenges in a volatile and uncertain world, with agility, innovation, and an unwavering bias for impact.
Thank you to all who have been a part of ygap’s remarkable journey to date, especially our major donors, the Noel & Carmen O’Brien Family Foundation, Cameron Foundation, and the Good Business Foundation. To new partners – together, we can back impact entrepreneurs to create an equitable world within our lifetime.
Warmly,
Meenal Khare – ygap Chief Executive Officer
Our Impact
Launching yCapital
On International Women’s Day of 2024, ygap launched an exciting new initiative called yCapital. The goal is to raise $2 million to provide comprehensive training and essential loan capital to support the growth of women-led businesses in Africa. Recently, we were thrilled to award the first three yCapital grants to three incredible ygap Kenya alumni – Angaza Foods, Yatta BeeKeepers and Karmi Valley.
Grace Waringa is the Co-founder and CEO of Angaza Foods, who work with smallholder farmers in Kenya to export avocados and produce avocado oil; a model that not only impacts the farming community economically, but also socially through the improvement of livelihoods.
Diana Muthee-Gitiba is the Founder and CEO of Karmi Valley Set up in a community where quarrying is the major source of income, Karmi Valley engages women in her farm, giving them access to a source of livelihood to support their families.
Last but not least, Joanie Kinyanjui is the Co-founder and CEO Yatta Beekeepers Limited. They work with smallholder farmers across Kenya to produce honey and create markets for the product. Over the years, Yatta Beekeepers has worked and trained over 10,000 smallholder farmers in apiculture.
Thank you to everyone who has supported yCapital in its journey so far!
From the Head of Global Impact
This year, ygap launched new alumni programs in South Africa, Kenya, and Australia, creating stronger feedback loops and more opportunities for open communication and collaboration.
With 83% of our alumni actively engaging through events, hangouts, and peer learning, it’s clear that these connections are driving real value. Moving forward, we aim to align our global alumni efforts to foster even greater collaboration and shared impact.
As our community grows, we recognize the need to provide more tailored support to address specific challenges faced by entrepreneurs. With limited internal capacity, we are leveraging the expertise of external mentors to ensure every entrepreneur gets the guidance they need. Our top priority for the coming year is to re-engage intentionally with our entrepreneurs—listening closely to their challenges, impact goals, and support needs to ensure these insights shape our strategy. We are also focused on deepening our impact by enhancing the resources and partnerships available to help them thrive.
We are incredibly grateful to our donors, funders, and partners for their continued support. In the coming year, we look forward to sharing new ways for them to engage with our programs and experience the impact of their support firsthand.
Simphiwe Mntambo, ygap Global impact Manager
Since 2008...
Sustainable Development Goals addressed by our entrepreneurs:
Our Work
ygap Kenya
Overview of the past year
In partnership with the Power Learn Project Africa, ygap Kenya ran the ygap-PLP Bootcamp, held from October 17th to October 19th, 2023. This was a targeted and intensive program designed to support early-stage entrepreneurs at the ideation level. The boot camp had 12 participants and the startups were predominantly at the ideation level. The primary goal was to provide participants with expert advice to refine their business ideas and develop strategies for long-term sustainability.
This year also marked the launch of ygap Kenya’s Alumni Association to explore new ways to keep our alumni engaged and to extend our support services. We are now looking to develop post-graduation support networks and additional programs to ensure our alumni continue to thrive. Ygap has held four regional Alumni meetups to promote local connections and provide a platform for members to share their experiences and challenges.
ygap Kenya Team
ygap South Africa
Overview of the past year
Over the past year, the ygap South Africa team has continued to demonstrate its commitment to empowering entrepreneurs and fostering a supportive ecosystem for business growth. We provided strategic guidance and needs analysis sessions to numerous entrepreneurs, equipping them with essential tools to navigate the complexities of business ownership.
ygap South Africa’s Agripreneurship Accelerator Program attracted 69 applications from diverse agricultural ventures, encompassing agro-processing, horticulture, livestock, and crop farming. Following a rigorous selection process, the final cohort comprises 11 exceptional agriventures from five provinces across South Africa, representing rural and township areas.
In response to the challenges faced by township-based entrepreneurs, ygap South Africa, with funding support from the Australian High Commission, implemented a training program tailored for marginalised and under-resourced entrepreneurs. This initiative aimed to empower entrepreneurs to refine their business models for sustainable growth and long-term impact.
ygap South Africa Team
ygap Pacific Islands
Overview of the past year
The yher Fiji Sustainable Tourism Accelerator began in February 2024 with a five day live-in bootcamp of intensive training, workshops and collaboration. The following support phase included self-paced learning components through ygap’s new Disco platform, Micro Grants, 1:1 coaching, and Site Visits to deepen their entrepreneurial journey. In May, participants attended the Fiji Tourism Exchange, gaining visibility and valuable connections within the tourism sector.
The Business Partnerships Program pivoted to address systemic barriers within the ecosystem, namely banks. Utilising existing resources, ygap will address two distinct, yet synergistic pillars of work. The first pillar will include developing an accessible customer journey, impact model, and a communications strategy alongside partners Fintech Pacific. The second pillar is to produce a comprehensive guide to the Dua app in a variety of formats and a number of languages to ensure accessibility.
ygap Pacific Islands Team
ygap Australia
Overview of the past year
We delivered our Women in Entrepreneurship program in Partnership with Wyndham City Council. This was a 1 year program that started in 2023, working with early stage female entrepreneurs to bring their businesses to life. The program started with a bootcamp split over 2 weeks and then moved to continued support over the year with a combination of in-person workshop, coachings sessions, and local business visits. The program ended at a final community pitch event where the entrepreneurs had 3 minutes to pitch their businesses to a panel of local female entrepreneurs for feedback.
Our second focus was launching our Alumni Program Early this year for entrepreneurs who have previously gone through our program, to foster a community of continued support, connection and learning. We’ve run a combination of online and in-person workshops, masterclasses and meet-ups every 2-4 weeks. We’ve also connected up each Alumni with an industry mentor for tailored support. A highlight was our Alumni Program Mentor Drop in Day, which was an evening focussed on connection and support between our Alumni and Mentors.
ygap Australia Team
Stories
Kanyi's Story
Play is a fundamental part of childhood and healthy children. Kanyi Wa Ngugi believes in a Kenya where children are able to play safely.
With 40,000 playground accidents reported every year, Kanyi’s venture Playscape Kenya Ltd., designs, constructs, and initials custom-made play equipment. The company focuses on delivering safe, high-quality, and versatile products that cater to schools, residential communities, parks, and commercial play spaces. So far, they have installed 200 pieces of high quality designed and made play equipment and by 2025 they aim to double that number to 400.
On joining the ygap Kenya program, Kanyi wanted to improve Playscape’s accounting system and create a structured marketing strategy. Without proper financial tracking, it was difficult for the venture to assess profitability, and their reliance on word-of-mouth limited their market reach. Recognizing these gaps, ygap connected Playscape Kenya to experienced mentors in accounting and marketing, offering the necessary support to address these critical areas and help the business establish a stronger foundation for growth and sustainability.
The company’s strengths lie in the quality of its designs, the versatility and uniqueness of its products, and the high safety standards that make its equipment a favourite among schools and parents. And their goal is to penetrate new markets—specifically targeting apartments, gated communities, and more schools.
Nomfanelo's Story
Nomfanelo Khanyile’s passion for farming was sparked when she successfully grew some seedlings given to her from a local grocer. In 2019, her hobby for farming blossomed into a full-time venture, and she left her job in banking to found her business, Esisipho K.
Initially, limited land posed a challenge, but Nomfanelo overcame it by leasing 15 hectares from a local chief. Community support and local employment fueled her growth. As demand soared, she secured a loan to purchase 45 hectares. Diversifying income streams, she began rearing livestock, establishing an abattoir and processing plant for A-grade meat. A lucrative contract with Shoprite KZN now supplies 15 stores with various meat products.
While she’s had some exciting progress so far, Nomfanelo’s dedication faces a new test which is scaling production. Without the investment to purchase machinery, she is exploring other innovative solutions to boost her production capacity.
Since joining ygap South Africa, Nomfanelo triumphed in three prestigious pitch competitions: Graca Machel Trust, Coca Cola, and EThekwini Municipality Council. With expansion in sight, she aims to supply other South African provinces and explore exports. Her ultimate goal is to become a leading agricultural industry player, making a lasting economic and social impact.
Rose's Story
Rose Tifanue’s vision is to create sustainable careers within the creative arts industry, especially for young people.
Rose’s venture, Mauri Creative Art and Entertainment Group, has its roots as a multicultural dance group, which has since evolved to include many more activities, providing its young participants with opportunities for personal and professional growth.
When COVID-19 impacted dance bookings, Rose pivoted the business model to include selling lovo food packs, which helped the venture to survive while also showcasing the culinary creativity of the youths involved. As the situation improved post-COVID, Mauri Creative began developing new projects, including farming initiatives and costume creation for performances. With many participants being high-school dropouts, Mauri Creative offers an opportunity for positive community involvement, nurturing the creativity of local young people.
Since participating in the yher Accelerator, Rose has achieved significant milestones. The program helped her establish valuable networks and engage an accountant, which has formalised Mauri Creative’s operations. Youth engagement has surged, with many young people proudly showcasing their cultural dance skills. Her future plans include attracting investors and expanding into various creative projects that utilise local talent.
Beata's Story
Empowered women empower women. That is the legacy Beata Chinhoyi’s mother left to her.
Working women often have many competing demands – caring for the people around them, excelling at demanding professions, and managing the home environment. This can lead to burnout, isolation, and health issues.
Beata’s venture, Blessed Getaways, offers fun and relaxed getaways for working women. They provide safe spaces to share, network, and have solution focused discussions, as well as spaces for joy, relaxation, and holistic wellness to create a positive work-life balance. Their unique offering is that they also offer counselling, coaching, and mentoring services for their clients. Their aim is to become mental health advocates of note by empowering women to take charge of their destinies and cultivation their leadership skills to create and lead opportunities for change in their communities.
During the course of the ygap women in entrepreneurship program, Beata successfully ran at least two test tours with women in her community. She has also tested a booking system on her Facebook page for her counselling services that has been used by customers.
Highlights
ygap Kenya 10 Year Anniversary
On 21st July, 2023 ygap Kenya held a 10-year anniversary, an event that commemorated a remarkable journey of creating positive change in Kenya through inclusive entrepreneurship.
Our aim was to create an atmosphere that allowed our community of entrepreneurs and partners to reflect on ygap Kenya’s remarkable achievements over the past decade. Through the captivating speeches from our alumni entrepreneurs, partners and the fireside conversation by our former CEO Mark Harwood, Country Director, Carol Kimari and the Regional Chapter Head of ANDE East Africa, Grace Wachori, the audience appreciated the challenges overcome, milestones achieved and lessons learnt along the way.
This retrospective journey not only strengthened the ecosystem’s commitment to driving inclusive entrepreneurship but also highlighted ygap’s perseverance and impact in nurturing sustainable impact ventures in East Africa. It was a reaffirmation of our commitment to our mission and values. We successfully brought together a diverse array of 53 stakeholders including our alumni entrepreneurs, entrepreneur support organisations, venture capitalists, donors and government agencies, under one roof.
Polished Man
In 2023, Polished Man celebrated its 10th anniversary. We’ve got a lot to be proud of – ten years, over 8 million dollars raised, and a whole movement of people passionate about seeing an end to violence against women and children.
Funds raised through Polished Man seek to help end violence through two key ways; recovery from violence and prevention of violence. For recovery, we partnered with RizeUp to support their programs refurbishing houses for families escaping from violence in Australia. For prevention, funds were contributed towards ygap’s programs supporting income and economic strengthening for women and families around the world, one the of the pillars of the Inspire framework to end violence against children.
Polished Man 2024 is set to be an exciting year, with a new look and feel, new partners, and a new way to make an impact through the generous donations we receive. We’d like to thank all our supporters for their contribution to Polished Man, for helping to make a safer world for women and children.
Digitalising with Disco
A priority for ygap over the last 12 months has been in digitalising our programs. Since mid-year, we have completed the migration of our curriculum to the new online learning platform, Disco. The curriculum is now accessible as a refresher for cohorts and alumni who have completed the program. It also enables our programs to deliver high quality hybrid programs that make the most of face to face time and increase accessibility of our support phase masterclasses for rural participants and others who face barriers to attending in person.
Both our yher Sustainable Tourism (Fiji) and Kenya Accelerator programs made great use of the platform earlier in 2024, while the South Africa Agriculture program will use it for the first time in their October 2024 Accelerator. We have also recently onboarded our alumni across all global programs, which means they now have access to new course content, live virtual masterclasses, and community connection through discussion channels, fireside chats and member spotlights.
So far entrepreneurs have had positive feedback on the platform experience, and a key focus for us over the next few months will be working with our program teams to drive strong engagement.
Partners
Our Partners
If ygap’s people are our heart, then our partners are the wings that help us fly. We are only able to do what we do with the generous support of those who believe in our mission, and back us to achieve it. A sincere thank-you to every single one of the partners listed below; with their support, underserved entrepreneurs in Africa, the Pacific Islands, and Australia are able to get access to the resources, networks, knowledge and support they need in order to thrive and create ripples of impact into their communities.
Financials
FY 2023/24 Financials
Expenditure by type
Expenditure by country
Income by source
Revenue and Assets
| REVENUE | 2024 $A’000s | 2023 $A’000s |
| Contracts | 166,683 | 359,071 |
| Campaigns | 393,434 | 756,298 |
| Partnerships | 497,398 | 1,051,589 |
| Government grants | 402,891 | 307,525 |
| Other Income | 2,900 | 3,813 |
| TOTAL REVENUE | 1,463,306 | 2,478,296 |
| EXPENSES | ||
| Funds to impact programs | 1,052,918 | 992,926 |
| Fundraising and organisational support expenses | 828,114 | 1,110,340 |
| TOTAL EXPENSES | 1,881,032 | 2,103,266 |
| (DEFICIT) / SURPLUS | – 417,726 | 375,030 |
| SUMMARISED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION | 2,024 | 2,023 |
| CURRENT ASSETS | 2024 $A’000s | 2023 $A’000s |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 420,647 | 666,289 |
| Amounts receivable and other current assets | 6,137 | 235,629 |
| TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS | 426,784 | 901,918 |
| NON-CURRENT ASSETS | ||
| Other non-current assets | 6,638 | 9,717 |
| TOTAL NON-CURRENT ASSETS | 6,638 | 9,717 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | 433,422 | 911,635 |
| CURRENT LIABILITIES | ||
| Trade and other payables | 48,664 | 22,310 |
| Employee liabilities | 35,776 | 29,933 |
| Other current liabilities | 82,412 | 175,096 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES | 166,852 | 227,339 |
| NET ASSETS | 266,570 | 684,296 |
| EQUITY | ||
| Retained surplus | 266,570 | 684,296 |
| Reserves | – | – |
| Non-controlling interest | – | – |
| TOTAL EQUITY | 266,570 | 684,296 |
Thank You
To us here at ygap, there is nothing more inspiring than seeing entrepreneurs with exciting, innovative ideas for change equipped with the knowledge, skills, networks and funding they need to thrive.
These entrepreneurs are making significant changes in their communities – from fighting food insecurity, to creating employment opportunities for others, to pioneering sustainable tourism. It is our greatest pleasure to provide the support they need, and help build the kind of environment they need in order to grow.
We’re so proud of what we do, of our exceptional staff, and the entrepreneurs we get to watch go from strength to strength. Thank you for your continued support on this journey to a more equitable and sustainable world.
From the whole ygap team
