Deadline: 11 August 2024
Registration for the Westerwelle Young Founders Programme - Autumn 2024 are now open. The Westerwelle Young Founders Programme (YFP) is a six-month fellowship for 25 leaders who are lifting emerging and developing markets towards a sustainable future. They offer targeted support to scale the founders' ventures and develop their leadership skills, with the following programme plan:
- Initial event A two-day digital kick-off event will take place in mid-September 2024.
- Remote Programme: From September 2024 to February 2025, the Young Founders will receive six months of support, including a personal mentor, monthly peer learning sessions, monthly workshops with experts and networking opportunities with companies and investors.
- Berlin Conference: The ten best-performing Young Founders will be invited to a five-day conference in Berlin in June 2025. During this conference, the founders will have the opportunity to present proposals to investors, take part in workshops, attend networking events and gain insights into the German start-up scene.
Benefits
- Mentoring: A unique experience with a successful entrepreneur or investor who becomes your sparring partner.
- Peer learning: Exchange with other successful young founders in the group to share knowledge and support each other.
- Expert sessions: in-depth sessions on relevant topics with high-level experts.
- International Community: Access to new business opportunities by connecting with programme alumni, partners and other members of the Westerwelle Foundation network.
- Berlin Conference: Exposure to the Berlin start-up ecosystem through a fully-funded 5-day conference, together with the other founders, for the top 10 participants.
Eligibility
They are looking for entrepreneurs with high potential for impact and growth to become leaders of a sustainable future, with the following criteria:
- You are a citizen or resident of a developing or emerging country.
- You recently (in the last five years) started a for-profit company focussed on developing or emerging markets.
- Your company has a scalable business model that has generated revenue or secured a first round of external funding.
- You or your company have disruptive qualities that can increase the quality, impact or inclusiveness of the sector.
- You have a good working knowledge of English.
- You are available to take part in the digital launch conference and can set aside time to participate in the programme's activities during the six months.
Application
The application form is the first phase of the application process and will provide the programme team with an overview of your startup and profile. They will then be able to request additional information and documentation. The application will take approximately 8 minutes. Only complete applications will be analysed.
