MANDELA WASHINGTON READERS FELLOWSHIP

Application Deadline: September 1, 2024

LOCATION: USA

The U.S. Department of State and IREX are seeking academic, professional, and regional experts to read and score applications for the 2025 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.  Over the first nine years of the Fellowship, the program received nearly 434,000 applications from 49 sub-Saharan African countries for 7,200 Fellow slots. Your talents and expertise in helping score their high volume of applications are greatly appreciated!

ELIGIBILITY:

Ideal readers are academics and/or professionals with expertise in one or more of the Fellowship’s thematic areas (business, civic engagement, or public management), or who have experience working in Africa or on sub-Saharan African issues.  U.S. Government employees and Fellowship Alumni are eligible.  Applicants for the 2024 Fellowship are not eligible to be readers.

Readers will be responsible for evaluating approximately 50 applications based on set guidelines and a scoring rubric.  This is a great volunteer professional development and résumé-building opportunity for professionals or degree-seeking individuals. Readers will gain exposure to challenges and proposed solutions in sub-Saharan Africa and to key processes in international and higher education.  

BENEFIT:

The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).  The Fellowship brings young leaders to the United States for academic coursework and leadership training to create unique opportunities for Fellows and U.S. citizens to collaborate, spur economic  growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance, and enhance peace and security across Africa and the United States.  In summer 2025, the Fellowship will bring up to 700 young leaders to the United States for a comprehensive executive-stye program designed to build skills and empower Fellows to lead in their respective sectors and communities. 

APPLY

ECO BANK FINTECH CHALLENGE FOR STARTUPS

Application Deadline: 7 July, 2024

LOCATION: Nigeria

The Ecobank Fintech Challenge is open to all startups with innovative solutions addressing the needs of the African population and its diaspora. It has been created with two objectives in mind:

Identify and support Fintechs that are ready to scale up with resources, funding, partnerships, etc. in Ecobank’s 33 African markets.

Leverage these pan-African Fintech success stories and the solutions they offer to improve Africa’s financial integration and economic development.

ELIGIBILITY:

The Challenge is the ideal launchpad for African Fintech innovators and startups to scale up to the next grand level with full support from Ecobank. It brings together a diverse pool of Africa-focused innovations to solve Africa’s financial inclusion pain points.

All Fintech with relevant financial products for Africa are eligible to apply.

You can enter more than one Fintech product in the competition. However, each product applied must be distinct. You should not submit two products in one application form. Each product must enter as a separate application.

You can participate in the challenge if your Fintech is not based in Africa. However, you must have an African-focus financial product.

BENEFIT:

Commercial partnership and integration opportunities to access and launch products across Ecobank’s 33 African markets

Business acceleration and capacity building support along with the opportunity to be a country-level partner in Ecobank’s ecosystem

Support of a dedicated team to carry out Ecobank’s API tests and enable better integration of Fintech products in the pan-African market

Easy access and relationship building with global and African accelerators, potential investors and mentors because of Ecobank Fintech Fellowship

$50,000 no-strings attached cash prize support to the winning company along with more cash prizes to the top three winners

Launchpad to leverage our existing products such as Omni, Electronic Financial Supply Chain (eFSC), Xpress, Mobile App, MasterPass™ QR, mVISA™ & mCash, etc.

APPLY