1. Object

The objective of the DIGITAL AFRICA association is to set up a support system for African entrepreneurs, actors of the African entrepreneurial ecosystem and all actors operating in Africa who work in the field of digital innovation, in order to promote existing incubation, acceleration and financing solutions, with particular emphasis on the creation, provision and sharing of common resources.

It intends to achieve this objective by putting online a digital platform called DIGITAL AFRICA (hereinafter the “Platform”), by which it offers an audience of professionals (hereinafter the “Users”) access to information and content relating to the promotion and development of African entrepreneurship, as well as to free, open and shared resources in order to create an organized and enriched common base for the benefit of entrepreneurs, companies and structures supporting entrepreneurship. The platform also aims to create synergy and a social network service between Users.

The purpose of these general terms and conditions of use is to set the terms and conditions for the provision of the said services offered to Users via the Platform (hereinafter the “Services”), as well as to define the rights and obligations of the association DIGITAL AFRICA and the Users in this context.

They can be accessed and printed at any time via a direct link on the Platform’s home page.

They may be supplemented, where necessary, by special conditions of use, which supplement these general conditions and, in the event of contradiction, prevail over them.

2. Platform Operator and Contact

The Platform and Services are operated by the French association DIGITAL AFRICA, governed by the law of 1 July 1905, whose registered office is located at 11, Boulevard du Sud-Est – 92000 Nanterre (France).

The association can be contacted at the following email address: contact@digital-africa.infinit-dev.io.

3. Acceptance of the general terms and conditions

By registering for the Services under the conditions set out below, Users declare that they have read these general conditions and expressly accept them.

This acceptance can only be full and complete. Any membership subject to reservation is considered null and void. Users who do not agree to be bound by these terms and conditions must not use the Services or access the Platform.

4. Access to Services

The Services are accessible to any natural person having full legal capacity to enter into commitments under these general terms and conditions. Users who do not

have full legal capacity may only access the Services with the agreement of their legal representative.

The Services are intended exclusively for professionals acting within the scope of their activity.

5. Free services

The Services are provided to Users free of charge, it being understood that they are exclusively responsible for all costs of Internet access and the cost of their communications.

6. Pre-registration for Services

Some information on the Platform is freely accessible to the public without prior registration, at DIGITAL AFRICA’s free choice, which is not bound by any contractual obligation towards ordinary visitors.

To be able to access the Services, Users must open an account on the Platform. To this end, Users provide an email address that will serve as their login ID. They also choose a password.

Users are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their username and password and expressly acknowledge that any use of the Services from their account will be deemed to have been made by them. In the event that Users notice that their account is or has been used without their knowledge, they undertake to notify DIGITAL AFRICA as soon as possible, at the contact email address mentioned in Article 2 hereof.

Registration for the Services automatically results in the allocation to Users of a personal space in the form and according to the technical means that DIGITAL AFRICA deems most appropriate for rendering the Services, consisting in particular of a web page enabling the User to use and manage the Services (hereinafter “the Personal Space”).

7. Strictly personal use

Only one Account may be created per User. The person whose personal information has been communicated to DIGITAL AFRICA to open the User’s Account is considered to be the User of the Services, to the exclusion of any other third party.

Users therefore undertake to use the Services personally and not to allow any third party to use them in their place or for their own account, unless they bear full responsibility.

8. Description of the Services

Users have access to the following Services, in a form and according to the technical means that DIGITAL AFRICA deems most appropriate for providing the Services.

8.1 Creating Profiles

Users have the possibility to create a public profile on the Platform (hereinafter the “Profile”) that they can fill in from their Personal Space. A Profile allows Users to interact on the Platform.

To do so, they must fall into one of the three predefined categories: “Entrepreneur”, “Accompanist” and “Investor”, depending on their actual activities.

The User must indicate the company or business project to which he is attached, as well as his position within the company or project. If a User has already created an account attached to this company, the second User can be attached to it.

8.2 Cluster membership

Users have the possibility to administer clusters whose number, theme and purpose are previously defined by DIGITAL AFRICA (hereinafter referred to as “Clusters”).

There may be up to 5 administrators for a Cluster, who have previously declared themselves to DIGITAL AFRICA. Any director may, at his or her free choice and at any time, decide to be replaced by another director who will declare himself or herself as such to DIGITAL AFRICA.

The administrators lead the Clusters and organize exchanges and contributions between Users. However, they do not have any power of moderation. If they notice illegal content, they shall report it to DIGITAL AFRICA as part of the alert procedure referred to in the article “Procedure for reporting illegal content”.

DIGITAL AFRICA provides all Users, on the Platform, with a list of active Clusters.

Any User can join one or more Clusters of his choice.

8.3 Organization and membership of Communities

Users have the possibility to create and manage communities of interest between Users, on themes of their choice related to the purpose of the Platform and allowing in particular to exchange views and feedback on projects, to work together to produce a result, to exchange documents (hereinafter the “Communities”).

A Community is administered by a voluntary User. This director may, at his or her free choice and at any time, decide to be replaced by another director.

The administrator of a Community can choose to keep a Community open to all Users or to reserve it only for certain Users, by invitation.

Any User may request to be authorized to access a Community by sending a request to the administrator of the said Community. The administrator remains free to accept or not the User’s admission to the Community.

The administrator of a Community is responsible for his Community. It is the sole judge of the acceptance of a User in his Community, as well as of his exclusion, for legitimate reasons, and of the respect of the rules and procedures of operation within his Community that he may freely determine.

However, the director has no power of moderation. If it finds illegal content, it shall report it to DIGITAL AFRICA under the alert procedure referred to in the article “Procedure for reporting illegal content”.

DIGITAL AFRICA makes available to all Users, on the Platform, a list of active Communities. This list is organized chronologically and thematically.

8.4 Dissemination of information and sharing of information

Users have access, from the Platform, to various information that DIGITAL AFRICA puts online, as well as to a database of free, open and shared resources, fed by DIGITAL AFRICA (hereinafter referred to as the “Commons”).

8.5 Creating Content

Users may create and distribute content to be published on the Platform (hereinafter referred to as the “Content”). They freely decide whether to link their Content to Clusters or Communities.

8.6 Agenda of Events

Users have the possibility to inform other Users on the Platform of the organisation of public or restricted events (hereinafter referred to as “Events”) and to register them in an agenda on the Platform.

Users have the possibility to register directly online, via the Platform, for Events created by other Users, under the registration conditions defined by the latter.

8.7 Mapping

Information relating to a Profile, in all its information and interactions with the Platform, including its membership in Clusters or Communities, can be located on a map publicly accessible from the Platform.

8.8 Publication of Calls for Proposals

Users who have the profile of Investors and Supporters will have the possibility, when DIGITAL AFRICA considers it useful and according to the means it deems most appropriate to provide the Service, to launch calls for projects (hereinafter the “Calls for Projects”) addressed to other Users.

They will freely define its purpose, target and response modalities.

DIGITAL AFRICA will make available to all Users, on the Platform, a list of current Calls for Proposals. This list will be organized chronologically and thematically.

8.9 Internal messaging

Users have access to online instant messaging, allowing them to maintain private correspondence with other Users (hereinafter referred to as “Conversations”), with the ability to set up their email account to receive only messages from Users they have previously selected.

8.10 Social network

Users have access to the Service of a social network, allowing them to follow a news feed, follow Profiles, comment on news, Content, Events and others information disseminated on the Platform (hereinafter the “Comments”), as well as to share it.

8.11 Other Services

DIGITAL AFRICA reserves the right to offer any other Service, in a form and according to the functionalities and technical means it deems most appropriate for providing said Services.

9. Duration

These general conditions apply for the entire duration of the validity of the User’s Account, until the closure of the latter, under the conditions detailed below in the article “Closing the Account”.

10. Accommodation

DIGITAL AFRICA undertakes to ensure, under an obligation of means, the hosting of Accounts as well as Profiles, Events, Contents, Clusters, Communities, Comments and Calls for Proposals published by a User on the Platform on its own servers or by a professional hosting provider, in accordance with the practices of the profession and the state of the art.
To this end, DIGITAL AFRICA undertakes to provide Users with sufficient storage and processing capacities.

11. Service level guarantee

DIGITAL AFRICA is committed to ensuring the permanence, continuity and quality of access to the Platform throughout the duration of the Services. As such, DIGITAL AFRICA will make its best efforts to maintain access to the Platform, except during maintenance periods and in cases of force majeure.

However, given the complexity of the Internet, the uneven capacity of the various sub-networks, the influx at certain times, the various bottlenecks over which DIGITAL AFRICA has no control, its liability will be limited to the operation of its servers and/or the servers of its hosting provider, whose external limits are constituted by the connection points.

DIGITAL AFRICA cannot therefore be held responsible for the speed of access to its servers or to the servers of its hosting provider, for external slowdowns to its servers and/or to the servers of the hosting provider and for bad transmissions due to a failure or malfunction of these networks.

If necessary, DIGITAL AFRICA reserves the right to limit or suspend access to the Platform in order to carry out any maintenance and/or improvement operations. As part of these maintenance and/or evolution operations, DIGITAL AFRICA undertakes to make its best efforts to back up the data stored on the Platform.

Users acknowledge and accept that this service level guarantee does not cover any failure or interruption of the Platform caused by telecom operators or Internet and mobile web service providers.

12. Obligations of Users

Without prejudice to the other obligations provided for herein, Users undertake to respect the following obligations:

(i) Users undertake, in their use of the Services, to comply with the laws and regulations in force and not to infringe the rights of third parties or public order.
(ii) Users warrant that DIGITAL AFRICA has all the rights and authorisations necessary to distribute the Content, Events and Calls for Proposals that they distribute on the Platform in connection with the use of the Services. They undertake that such Content, Events and Calls for Proposals shall be lawful, shall not infringe public policy, morality or the rights of third parties, shall not infringe any legislative or regulatory provision and, more generally, shall not in any way be liable to DIGITAL AFRICA for civil or criminal matters.
Users also refrain from conducting Conversations that violate public order and morals and from maintaining, within Clusters and Communities, as well as in Conversations and Comments, always cordial relations, respectful of the most elementary rules of good manners and politeness and of the opinions of others.
In this context, Users guarantee DIGITAL AFRICA against any complaint, claim and/or action by one or more other Users and/or any third party claiming that the Content, Events, Comments, Calls for Proposals and/or Conversations constitute a violation of its rights, whatever they may be and in particular its intellectual property rights, image rights and the protection of privacy. Consequently, Users undertake to compensate DIGITAL AFRICA for any damage it may suffer and to bear all damages, as well as any costs, charges and expenses to which DIGITAL AFRICA may be ordered.

13. Closing the Account

Users can unsubscribe from the Services at any time and close their Account by clicking on the “Delete Account” tab in their Personal Space. The deactivation of the Account is immediate.
The Users’ Account may also be closed under the conditions defined in the article “Sanction of Defaults”.

Users will be responsible for retrieving the data they have stored on their Personal Space on the medium and in the format of their choice, which they recognize and accept.

Users expressly acknowledge that DIGITAL AFRICA shall not be held liable for any loss or alteration of the Content and data stored by the User on his Account after the deactivation of his Account, regardless of the cause.

14. Prohibited behaviour

It is strictly prohibited to use the Services for the following purposes:

– the exercise of illegal, fraudulent activities or activities that infringe the rights or safety of third parties,
– the breach of public order or the violation of laws and regulations in force,
– intrusion into a third party’s computer system or any activity likely to harm, control, interfere with, or intercept all or part of a third party’s computer system, violate its integrity or security,
– aiding or abetting, in any form and by any means, one or more of the acts and activities described above,
– and more generally any practice that diverts the Services for purposes other than those for which they were designed.

The following are also strictly prohibited: (i) any conduct likely to interrupt, suspend, slow down or prevent the continuity of the Services, (ii) any intrusions or attempted intrusions into computer systems, (iii) any diversion of the Platform’s system resources, (iv) any actions likely to impose a disproportionate burden on the Platform’s infrastructures, (v) any breach of security and authentication measures, (vi) any acts likely to affect DIGITAL AFRICA’s financial, commercial or moral rights and interests, and finally, more generally (vii) any breach of these general conditions.

15. Sanctioning of breaches

In the event of breach of any of the provisions of these general terms and conditions, or more generally, breach of laws and regulations by Users, DIGITAL AFRICA reserves the right to :

(i) temporarily or permanently suspend, without delay, access to the Services of the User who has committed or participated in the breach or infringement,
(ii) remove any content related to the breach or offence in question, in whole or in part,
(iii) take all appropriate measures and take legal action,
(iv) where appropriate, notify the competent authorities, cooperate with them and provide them with all relevant information for the investigation and repression of illegal or illicit activities.
In the event of a breach by Users of an obligation arising from these general terms and conditions, or a repeated breach thereof, DIGITAL AFRICA reserves the right to terminate the User’s access to all or part of the Services, with immediate effect. This termination automatically and without prior notice leads to the closure of the User’s Account, without prejudice to any other consequences that may arise under these general terms and conditions.

16. Limitation of liability and guarantee of DIGITAL AFRICA

DIGITAL AFRICA undertakes to make its best efforts to provide the Services diligently and in accordance with the rules of the art, it being specified that it has an obligation to means, to the exclusion of any obligation of result, which Users expressly acknowledge and accept.

Its liability is exclusively limited to the provision of the Services in accordance with the terms and conditions described herein, to the exclusion of any other service.
The Communes are provided as is, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including with respect to their content, accuracy or fitness for purpose. Under no circumstances may Users seek to hold DIGITAL AFRICA liable in this respect.

Users acknowledge and accept that DIGITAL AFRICA is not aware of any Content, Events, Comments, Calls for Proposals and Conversations published by Users in connection with the Services, over which it does not exercise any moderation, selection, verification or control of any kind and for which it acts as host.

Consequently, DIGITAL AFRICA cannot be held responsible, in its capacity as host, for any Content, Events, Comments, Calls for Proposals and Conversations whose authors are Users and/or any other third party, any possible claim must first be directed to the User who published the elements in question.
Nor is DIGITAL AFRICA responsible for the social, contractual or other relationships that Users maintain between themselves via the Platform, in particular within Clusters, Communities, during Events or in Comments and Conversations, nor for any incidents, disputes and disputes that may result from them.
DIGITAL AFRICA is not responsible for the Calls for Proposals, in particular for the terms and conditions of their execution, nor for any disputes and litigation that may result from them.
Users further acknowledge and agree that the Services are provided as is without warranty of any kind, either express or implied. In particular, DIGITAL AFRICA does not guarantee that :
– the Services, subject to constant research to improve their performance and progress, will be totally free of errors, defects or defects;
– the Services being standard and in no way offered solely for the benefit of Users according to their own personal constraints, will specifically meet their needs and expectations;
– the Platform will operate uninterruptedly, DIGITAL AFRICA reserving the right to temporarily interrupt access to the Platform for maintenance purposes under the conditions of the article “Guarantee of service level”.
DIGITAL AFRICA also declines any responsibility in the event of possible loss of Content, Events, Calls for Proposals, Conversations and other information accessible on the Users’ Account, the latter having to ensure, if they deem it necessary, to save a copy and not being able to claim any compensation in this respect.

17. Procedure for reporting illegal content

Users who believe that their rights have been violated by the publication by another User of illegal content on the Platform may send a report with a request for withdrawal to DIGITAL AFRICA, at the contact address referred to in the article “Platform Operator and Contact”. The complaint must include the date of its notification, the identity of the complainant (surname, first name, domicile, nationality, date and place of birth), the identifier of the User causing the damage, the description of the disputed facts accompanied by a link to the page providing proof of the damage suffered, a description of the damage suffered and a copy of the correspondence sent to the author of the facts in dispute seeking an amicable solution.

However, this notification procedure cannot be considered as an acknowledgement by DIGITAL AFRICA of any obligation to intervene, but only as compliance by DIGITAL AFRICA with its obligations under Article 6-III of Law No. 2004-575 of 21 June 2004.
DIGITAL AFRICA shall be free to take any appropriate measures, without any commitment on its part and/or to forward this complaint to the competent authorities.

Users will be personally responsible for any actions they may bring in any court against another User due to the prejudice suffered as a result of his or her actions.

18. Intellectual Property

These general terms and conditions do not confer on Users any intellectual property rights of any kind whatsoever in respect of the DIGITAL AFRICA Platform, trademark and logo, as well as in respect of the software, structures, infrastructures and databases used by DIGITAL AFRICA within the Platform in connection with the provision of the Services, which remain the exclusive, full and entire property of DIGITAL AFRICA.
The Communes are subject to the Creative Commons – Attribution – Sharing license regime under the same conditions, known as CC BY-SA.
They may therefore be freely reused by Users, namely copied, adapted and modified, worldwide and for the entire legal duration of copyright or any other intellectual property right, for commercial or non-commercial purposes, provided that Users quote, in the context of its reuse, the name of DIGITAL AFRICA and that they undertake to distribute any new content resulting from a copy, adaptation and modification of the Commons, under the same sharing conditions, namely under a CC BY-SA licence.

The Communes are provided as is, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including with respect to their content, accuracy or fitness for purpose.

Under no circumstances may Users seek to hold DIGITAL AFRICA liable in this respect.
Users expressly agree to submit any Content they voluntarily post on the Platform to the same BY-SA CC license. Users who do not agree to be bound by this license may not distribute Content on the Platform.

Users who publish Content on the Platform guarantee DIGITAL AFRICA, as well as all other Users who may use it, that such Content does not constitute an infringement of the intellectual property rights of others.

Users guarantee DIGITAL AFRICA, as well as all other Users who may use them, against any complaint, claim and/or action of one or more other Users and/or third parties under the conditions detailed above in the article “Obligations of the User”.

A charter of the Municipalities and Contents may supplement and more specifically govern the rules as to their copy, adaptation, modification and reuse by Users.

19. Personal data

DIGITAL has a personal data protection policy, the characteristics of which are explained in the document entitled “Charter on the protection of personal data”, accessible on the Platform’s home page and of which Users are expressly invited to read.

In particular, DIGITAL AFRICA declares that it complies with all legal and regulatory obligations regarding the protection of personal data, in particular with a view to guaranteeing the security and confidentiality of the data collected and processed.

20. Links and third party sites

DIGITAL AFRICA cannot under any circumstances be held responsible for the technical availability of websites operated by third parties (including any partners) to which Users may access through the Platform.

DIGITAL AFRICA assumes no responsibility for the content, advertising, products and/or services available on such third party sites, which are governed by their own terms of use.

Nor is DIGITAL AFRICA responsible for transactions between Users and any advertiser, professional or merchant to whom Users may be directed through the Platform. It may under no circumstances be a party to any disputes with these third parties, in particular concerning the delivery of products and/or services, guarantees, declarations and other obligations of any kind to which these third parties may be bound.

21. Modification of the general conditions

DIGITAL AFRICA reserves the right to modify these general conditions at any time. It also reserves the right to modify and/or discontinue offering all or part of the Services at any time at its sole discretion.

Users will be informed of these changes by any appropriate means, at least 15 days before their entry into force. The general conditions thus modified shall immediately apply to any User of the Services as soon as they are put online on the Platform.

The User who does not accept the modified terms and conditions must unsubscribe from the Services.

Any User who uses the Services after the amended terms and conditions come into force is deemed to have accepted these modifications, which will be fully applicable to him/her.

22. Applicable law and competent jurisdiction

The law applicable to all disputes that may arise in connection with these general terms and conditions, and in particular their existence, validity, formation, interpretation, execution or termination, is French law.

Any dispute or controversy concerning the interpretation or execution of the contract shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Paris, unless mandatory provisions to the contrary apply.

23. Entry into force

These general conditions came into force on 20 November 2018.