Deadline: September 15, 2023
Registration is now open for the She Wins Africa 2023 Programme of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) She Wins Africa is a program designed to help women entrepreneurs across Sub-Saharan Africa by offering training, mentoring, and networking opportunities that will help their startups succeed.
African women have the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity in the world, estimated at 24%, and are more likely to start businesses than their counterparts in other regions of the world. However, several factors persistently hinder the potential of women founders and entrepreneurs in Africa. These include lack of access to seed capital, lack of access to startup ecosystems and support networks that provide capacity building support, and lack of knowledge and experience to implement gender-sensitive investment strategies among companies and venture capital funds.
She Wins Africa aims to address these challenges and improve opportunities for women-led startups to access funding.
Benefits
The programme will:
- To provide training on investment preparation and business skills development, which will help women-led startups improve their chances of accessing funding.
- To provide capacity building for funds and venture capital firms on gender-sensitive investments to help accelerate investments in startups and women-led businesses, including ten startup support organizations.
- To provide capacity building for accelerators and ESOs to support the incubation of early-stage startups and to support the development of a strong pipeline of investment-ready startups.
- Facilitate matchmaking and pitching events between female founders and investors to facilitate the flow of funds to women-owned businesses.
Cost
- IFC will only cover flight and hotel expenses for the duration of the program.
Eligibility
Potential participants must meet the following criteria:
- Age: 21+
- Sex: Female
- Years in business: 1+
- Headquarters: Sub-Saharan African country.
- Industry: Agnostic, with technology as a central component.
- Previous participants in similar IFC programs are not eligible to apply.
- Language: Fluent in English.
- Participants in She Wins Africa must be available to attend online training sessions and travel to networking events over the next 12 months.
Application
