The “Women Entrepreneurship for Africa” (WE4A) program is an action jointly supported by the European Union (EU), the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), and the German Development agency GIZ (E4D program).
WE4A is with access to €10.000 in grant funding that will be paired with 3 months of technical support through a virtual acceleration program.
7 things you should know about WE4A
Main objective of WE4A
The main objective of the WE4A Program was to support women entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, enabling them to flourish and contribute to employment creation in their communities through enhanced business capacities, access to formal financial services, and integration into local and regional value chains.
Women Entrepreneurship program
Women entrepreneurship for Africa is an EU, OACPS and BMZ funded program, that seeks to provide 120 female entrepreneurs from the TEF alumni network,
The program aims to improve the business capacity of women-led enterprises to increase their chances of raising follow-on funding from private sector investors. Additional grant funding up to €50.000 in conjunction with a growth program will be provided to 15 enterprises selected by an expert panel as having the most high-growth potential. This program will be an additional 3 months.
Acceleration Programme
The Acceleration Programme provided 99 women-led companies from across 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with a recorded 800 hours of mentor meetings, 67 hours of training per company, and 234 experiments run by the entrepreneurs.
The acceleration and growth programmes showed how the enormous potential of growth-oriented, women-owned businesses can be better harnessed for employment and prosperity on the African continent.
Job creation
The WE4A project will contribute to closing existing gender gaps in the labor markets, especially in terms of the quality of jobs. WE4A will ignite structural changes, as women who become successful entrepreneurs serve as role models in their societies and encourage other women and girls to pursue their choice of career.
Both the initial acceleration and the follow-on growth programs aim to support women entrepreneurs, in Sub-Saharan Africa, to flourish and contribute to employment creation in their communities.
WE4A Acceleration Programme Prize Winners
During the program’s demo day, some participants of the program were also able to receive prizes from the partners: CADAP, Tekedia, Nigeria Trade and Investment Summit in the United Kingdom, Adalo, and Bubble.io. The prize winners are as follows:
CADAP – 6 Scholarships to Tekedia Institute Mini MBA: BleagLee, Erith Health Services, Farms2shelves, Blue Sands Academy, Laalfi Farms Nigeria Limited, and Eco Pads
CADAP – Access to International Payment Infrastructure: Serah Kassim
Tekedia – 5 Scholarships to Tekedia Institute Mini MBA: Pearl Recycling, LegsApparel, The Safety Chic, Uganics Repellents, and African Things
Full Access to the Nigeria Trade and Investment Summit in the United Kingdom: MyStash
Six months of Adalo Pro and 3 x 1 hour workshops: DataGirl Technologies
Bubble Bootcamp seat for free 4 sessions for two hours: McComan Furnishings
Features of the program
The program provides: €10,000 in grant funding to 120 women entrepreneurs from the TEF alumni network. 3 Months of technical support through a virtual acceleration program. Up to €50,000 additional grant funding for up to 15 enterprises with high-growth potential.
Entreprenuers
From the Acceleration Programme, 30 entrepreneurs were selected to receive follow-on funding of up to €50,000 as well as an additional three months of the growth programme training. 14 of the 30 female entrepreneurs are Nigerians.
