USADF Accelerate Africa Entrepreneurship Challenge

USADF is excited to request proposals for the USADF Accelerate Africa Entrepreneurship Challenge. Proposals are invited from eligible African youth and women-led enterprises. Selected enterprises will receive funding in the form of grant capital of up to $250,000. To be considered for the Challenge, applicants must be 100% African-owned and -managed private companies registered and operating in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

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Eligibility

USADF will consider proposals from 100% African-owned and managed companies. Passports or other government-issued IDs of all owners and senior managers must be submitted with the applications. If the applying entity is owned wholly or in part by another entity, passports or other government-issues IDs of its owners must also be provided. The applying entity must be a for-profit enterprise and must not be governmentowned, operated, or affiliated in any way. Applicants may be developers of their own technology and/or may be acquiring and implementing technology developed elsewhere. Applicants need to be legally registered in Africa and demonstrate the capacity to track and manage the project resources and operate in good standing with the local governments in which they operate.

Winning proposals must:

• Further develop, scale up or extend the use of proven solutions/technologies for social impact in Africa.
• Benefit underserved populations or low-income rural or urban populations
• Demonstrate financial sustainability or the potential for financial sustainability
• Propose a budget of no more than US$250,000. Proposals with budgets greater than US$250,000 must bring leveraged resources from one or more other sources that meet the total financing requirements. Leveraged funds from other private sector and donor sources are encouraged
• Demonstrate clearly whether and how many new jobs will be created
• Women-owned or -managed business is a plus

Applications will only be considered for USADF Accelerate Africa Entrepreneurship Challenge if they:

• Entity is African 100% owned and managed, registered, and operating within Africa
  • Owners must provide passports or other government-issued IDs showing citizenship are submitted.
  • All shareholders, members of the board and senior management must be citizens of a subSaharan African country
• Express clearly how they will benefit underserved populations across Africa including showing demonstrable positive impacts for youth and women
• Express clearly how they will achieve sustainable growth
• Fully and legally registered in Africa, and the registration is submitted
• Document adequate expertise in the field they are proposing or document how they will acquire the necessary expertise
• Clearly document how they will use USADF grant capital to carry out their concept

Benefits

• Proposals of up to US$250,000 in grant capital per award will be considered.

Application process

Click here to apply.

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