Rinchi
TechInAfrica – Invest2Impact challenge has been opened to 100 women-owned business from East Africa, giving access for them to receive funding and expand their businesses. The competition was launched by Graca Machel, the children and women rights advocate and the founder of the Graca Machel Trust.
Invest2Impact competition is financially supported by leading development finance institutions (DFIs) from the G7 countries, including FinDevCanada, the Commonwealth Development Corporation Group (CDC) of the United Kingdom, Proparco of France and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) of the United States and the MasterCard Foundation.
The competition will select 20 winners from each East African country. Each of them will receive up to USD$85,000 in funding.
During the launch of the competition in Nairobi, Machel stated: “Research shows that increasing women’s involvement leads to improved financial management and more sustainable, thriving communities.”
Organizers will select businesses whose focus based on the Sustainable Development Goals that include reduce poverty, increase access to health and education services, reduce hunger and increase food security, promote gender equity, create decent working conditions for their employees and drive economic growth.
To apply for the competition, businesses should be wholly or partially owned (50%+) owned by a woman and have estimated revenues or assets at over $50,000. Moreover, they should be in operations for three years or more and have five employees or more.
The challenge started on July 11th and will end on November 13th. Selected businesses will be divided into four different categories which are determined by the companies’ annual revenues, whether they are social enterprises or innovative business, their potential to attract public support, as well as companies who seek to advance their marketing strategies.
Applications for the challenge will be made via an online portal which will be released to the public next week. It will be opened for applications for two months.
Source: innovation-village.com
