Tag Archives: Business Startup

FAST FORWARD STARTUP ACCELERATOR

Application Deadline: September 9, 2024

LOCATION: USA

The Accelerator is Fast Forward’s flagship program for tech nonprofits. We bridge the tech and nonprofit worlds, providing training and resources applicable to the challenges only a tech and nonprofit entrepreneur knows. Through the Accelerator, you’ll receive a $25,000 philanthropic grant, build community among your cohort, meet dozens of mentors from the tech & social sectors, and make connections to people who can help you scale. If you’re a nonprofit tech startup, you’re in the right place.

ELIGIBILITY:

The Accelerator is built exclusively for early-stage tech nonprofits. These are organizations that look like typical tech startups—they build tech products—and have selected a nonprofit structure because they are building for impact instead of profit.

Fast Forward’s program is designed to address the unique needs of tech nonprofits:

LEADERSHIP. Tech nonprofits face everything that is hard for a tech startup and everything that’s hard for a nonprofit. To pull it off, the leaders must have steadfast vision and incredible gumption.

LIVED EXPERIENCE WITH THE PROBLEM. People solve problems in front of them. We want to empower people to solve the problems they see and experience.

TECH TALENT. The tech vision should be the driving force of the organization and not an auxiliary program. To successfully execute that vision, tech talent must be in a leadership role.

POTENTIAL FOR IMPACT. Impact is a thorny subject. To get to the heart of an organization’s potential, we ask questions like: Who is the organization primarily serving? If successful, how many lives will be positively influenced? How deeply will the organization impact those lives?

SCALABILITY. Software scales incredibly well. We support organizations with a vision for change that is matched only by the potential for scale.

ALIGNMENT. Fast Forward is a small organization. As such, we choose organizations that we are best poised to help scale.

BENEFIT:

A $25,000 philanthropic grant, build community among your cohort, meet dozens of mentors from the tech & social sectors, and make connections to people who can help you scale.

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