Sponsoring Agency: Women in Africa (WIA)
Deadline Available: Available
Deadline Date (mm/dd/yyyy): 05/07/2021
Size of the Fund: Not Available
The WIA 54 programme promotes women entrepreneurship in Africa. Each year, it endows 54 African women entrepreneurs from 54 African countries with a comprehensive support package consisting of training, communication, and networking.
In 2021, WIA rolled out its 2030 plan, which multiplied the number of beneficiaries of the programme by 10!
This year, before appointing the 54 laureates, the jury will make an initial selection of 10 finalists per country. Thus, 540 women candidates will benefit from training and coaching. Through this newly introduced initiative, WIA aims at supporting more than 10,000 women entrepreneurs, indirectly contributing to the creation of 100,000 jobs, by 2030.
From this strengthened pool of entrepreneurs, the jurors will then select the 54 country laureates and 9 sectoral prize winners who will receive a comprehensive package of support to further boost their success!
Sectors
Candidates can apply in the following areas:
• Education
• Health
• Digital
• Fintech
• Agriculture
• Sustainable development
• Beauty industries
• Creative Industries
• Gold Award: Jury Prize
What are the different types of status in the WIA54 community?
• Candidates of the competition: all participants to the WIA call for applications.
o This means any woman who has sent her complete file during the call for applications
• Country finalists: 10 women pre-selected in each country
• Country laureates: 54 women representing the 54 countries selected from the country finalists
• Revelations: laureates by category.
Rewards
The 540 finalists, 54 country laureates, and 9 sector revelations will receive various rewards.
• Training & Mentoring
o Taking part in an online Training Bootcamp
o Receive an offered training by one of the 58 campuses of partner honoris United Universities
o Be mentoring and coached by an experienced leader
• Network
o Integrate a network of more than 100,000 members worldwide
o Have access to privileged consulting sessions with partners
o Have direct contact with Pan-African and Global Experts
• International Exposure
o Speak to International Webinars
o Broadcast your projects on WIA platforms
• The class also benefits from the support of godmothers.
• The godmother is a source of inspiration for these women, sometimes a role model, always and a charismatic and encouraging personality.
• She leads networking actions and supports the development of the laureate’s projects.
Eligibility Criteria
Any African woman entrepreneur whose business is in Africa.
The criteria are as follows:
• Business created or led by an African woman
• Startup created less than 5 years ago
• First traction on the market (sales, number of users, funds raised)
• Be part of one of the 8 categories
• Applicants can only compete in a category that is their primary business category. For example:
o If you produce jams sold exclusively on a website, your category is “Agriculture” not “Digital.”
o If you offer digital training, your primary category is “Education” and your secondary category is “Digital”
What are the evaluation criteria for the projects?
• Innovative product, service or technology
• Proven business model scalability
• Strong growth potential
• Ambitious team with strong execution ability
• Market traction (revenue, number of users, funds raised)
• Potential impact in Africa
More information at: https://wia-initiative.com/eng-wia542021/
