Tag Archives: African Entrepreneurs

awards, competition, Events, Opportunities

ASHOKA POWER OF LOCAL CHALLENGE FOR YOUNG CHANGEMAKERS ($60,000 CASH PRIZE)

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Application Deadline: February 26, 2025

LOCATION: Africa

Applications for the Power of Local Challenge are now open! They are looking for small business ecosystem builders—organizations that provide small businesses with diverse and equitable opportunities like resources, tools, networking, and more. If this sounds like you, then you’re in the right place!

ELIGIBILITY:

Country of Impact: Your initiative must be primarily impacting at least one of the following countries: Botswana, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe.  

Language: Your application should be fully written and submitted in English (Applicants, especially finalists, will be expected to engage in activities that require English proficiency).  

Exclusions: Employees and their children and grandchildren of the program partner, Ashoka, or its affiliates and participating advertising and promotion agencies are NOT eligible to apply. 

Additional Criteria: If your solution has not been implemented at scale; you must have a clear business plan and a minimum-viable solution (prototype, pilot, or another proof of concept).  

You may only submit 1 application per organization. 

You must be 18 or above by the application deadline, on February 26th, 2025.

BENEFIT:

A total of 11 winners will be awarded a cash prize of up to $60,000 as follows: 

We will award a minimum of 2 winners in each geographical region: Latin America, East Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa, East Asia.  

Ten Winners will receive $15,000 each. 

One Grand Prize Winner will be selected and will receive $60,000

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business funding, Events, Opportunities, other events

TEFXUNICEF BEGREEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMME (2025)

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Application Deadline: Monday, March 31, 2025

LOCATION: Multiple Regions

This initiative is designed to provide evidence on opportunities for youth entrepreneurship in a circular and green economy—with a focus on waste management—while addressing the triple planetary crisis, reducing inequalities, and creating sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their peers. The Green Initiative will contribute evidence on innovative development models to drive growth and employment for youth in Africa and beyond.

ELIGIBILITY:

The Programme is open to all citizens of the Selected Countries (Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal) who are aged 18 years and above. The submitted age of all Applicants must be supported with government approved means of identification.

All Applications must be for a Green Business Idea or a Business that must be for profit, focused on one business area only, and must be the original idea of the Applicant.

The Business or Business Idea must not be for an illegal or unethical purpose.

The training curriculum has been designed to segment entrepreneurs based on the demonstrated capability and knowledge. The tailored training courses educate and provide capacities for you to:
understand the concept of growing your business to overcome the challenges faced by entrepreneurs across the African continent.
Gain in-depth knowledge to Build a circular and green economy through less consumption, better consumption, and the creation of systemic change at community, national and global levels.

To ensure a transparent application process, all applicants will need to have a valid government issued ID and indicate their name on the application form on TEFConnect exactly as it appears on the ID card.

PLEASE NOTE: TEFConnect can only be accessed by a single email account. It is important that all applicants register with an email to which they have regular access.

The Entrepreneurship Programme identifies outstanding African entrepreneurs with start-ups or business ideas with the potential to grow. The TEF Entrepreneurship Programme will be delivered in different phases as listed below:

Application Phase
Training &Mentorship Phase
Business Plan Submission Phase
Pitching Phase
Seed Capital Phase

BENEFIT:

All TEFXUNICEF BEGreen selected participants who have completed all the above steps, registered their business & opened a bank account will be paid the seed capital of US$5,000 or its equivalent. An entrepreneur who has received funding and acknowledged receipt of payment will be issued a TEFXUNICEF BEGREEN CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION AND ACHIEVEMENT.

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