Deadline: 7-Apr-23

BIC Africa is seeking applications for the third edition of the BIC Africa Acceleration Programme to support 15 women entrepreneurs from Angola, Comoros, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Somalia and 5 others from other African countries willing to scale their businesses while contributing to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The programme will run from May to September 2023, and it will focus on supporting women business owners across all sectors and business types through a combination of online training modules, coaching sessions, individual exercises and a mentoring programme with women experts from Europe and Africa with relevant experience in supporting innovative entrepreneurs and start-ups.

Twenty selected entrepreneurs will benefit from a full online training course (6 modules); will participate in dedicated group coaching sessions to deepen some of the topics addressed during the training; willbe matched with European and African incubation experts that will accompany their growth trajectory through remote mentoring sessions; and will be exposed to the alumnae network of BIC Africa Women Acceleration programme.

Benefits

• The programme will include
  • 6 live training modules (each lasting 1,5 hours)
  • 4 group coaching sessions (each lasting 1,5 hours)
  • Networking sessions (that will be organised back-to-back to the training and/or coaching sessions)
  • Exercises and access to support documents
  • Ad-Hoc Helpdesk through international mentoring support
  • Certificate of Recognition

Who they are looking for

• The preferred candidates should:
  • Be a woman (minimum age of 18-years-old) founder or owner of an already existing business with strong development potential, or an entrepreneur working on a project idea aimed to create a business with high growth potential.
  • Aligned with at least one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth.
  • Be available between May and September 2023 to participate in the Programme with a maximum of 2 hours per week for online sessions + time to work individually and reflect upon the learnings.
  • Already running a start-up /project and seeking to scale up.
  • Demonstrate a commitment to participating in all the activities of the Acceleration Programme and assisting in future developments of the programme.
  • Have access to a reliable internet connection.
  • Have a good working knowledge of English language.

Why join the BIC Africa Acceleration Programme?

• The BIC Africa Acceleration Programme is aimed at helping the 20 participants:
  • Explore growth and scaling trajectories for their businesses and solutions.
  • Assess the team competencies and consider how their business model will adapt to the growth phase.
  • Articulate the social value proposition, identifying why and how the proposed solution contributes to SDGs.
  • Access to appropriate sector, local, and international experts.
  • Join a vibrant community of women entrepreneurs, where to learn, exchange and connect.
  • Connect with BIC Africa and EBN networks to unleash the impact of women entrepreneurs.

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to be eligible to apply and participate, applicants must meet the following criteria:
• Assessment Criteria
  • Once the eligibility check is performed; BIC Africa will review and evaluate the nominations using the following criteria and scoring:
    • Solution/Business description: This criterion will assess the proposed solution in terms of how it will address the proposed challenge, how it will implement the proposed solution, its feasibility and the involvement of stakeholders.
    • Innovation dimension: This criterion assesses the innovative capacity of the proposed solution.
    • Scalability: This criterion assesses the scalability of the proposed solution, considering both the scaling-up trajectory of an already existing product/service, and the future scalability of the solution. It will also assess the entrepreneurial profile/team.
    • Impact: This criterion assesses how the solution is going to generate social and environmental impact and meet the UN SDGs, and how the stakeholders are involved.
    • Motivation: This criterion assesses the motivation expressed by the applicant in her letter, and the pitch deck.  65/65 is the max scoring. The minimum threshold for accessing the programme is 35/65.

For more information, visit BIC Africa.