Women in Africa (WIA), the world’s leading international platform for the economic development and the support of African women entrepreneurs launched the 6th edition of its flagship programme WIA54 on March 1, 2022. Women entrepreneurs from Seychelles are invited to apply for an intensive programme by May 31, 2022 that will boost their businesses and confidence.
The WIA 54 programme is open to women from all African countries. First launched in 2017, the programme promotes women entrepreneurs in Africa who are at the early stages of running a business. WIA’s objective is to support 10,000 African women by 2030 through training, mentoring, communication and access to funding.
In 2022, the programme will welcome 540 finalists who will benefit from continental and global visibility; once pre-selected and placed in the appropriate training pathway, candidates will benefit from rigorous business management training and tailored coaching sessions. At the end of this training phase, women entrepreneurs will again be shortlisted to participate in the six-month mentoring phase. This step will allow selected entrepreneurs to meet high-level mentors, ready to accompany them to combine all the learning of the training in a single coherent document: the business plan.
From this strengthened pool of entrepreneurs, the jurors will select the 54 country laureates and 9 sectoral prize laureates who will receive a comprehensive package of support to further boost their success. This entails that 54 laureates will have the opportunity to join an MBA programme of our partner Honoris United Universities and will also benefit from a communication highlight worth €5,000 on WIA social networks and 8 Revelations will benefit from a communication promotion worth €8,000.
This year, WIA is pleased to announce that the Gold Award winner will receive, in addition to the coaching, €10,000 in funding to support her business development. Moreover, the best candidates from the mentoring and training phase will participate in a Pitch competition in June 2023 that will give them access to investors and seed capital. This will be a unique opportunity to demonstrate business knowledge, convince the jury of the viability of their business project and raise funds to deploy their structure.
Opportunities for women entrepreneurs from Seychelles
Highlighting how this programme can help women entrepreneurs in the island economy, Samantha Seewoosurrun, WIA Ambassador for Seychelles, said:
“The WIA 54 programme represents a huge opportunity for women entrepreneurs in Seychelles who can avail of practical training, coaching and mentoring to help build their businesses. The programme will have a strong focus on helping women entrepreneurs develop their businesses and secure access to finance, which has a vital role to play in scaling the businesses of women entrepreneurs in Seychelles and across the continent.
“It will also provide exceptional networking opportunities to connect with like-minded women in Africa. I would strongly urge women entrepreneurs in Seychelles to apply for this unique programme.”
Application process and selection criteria
The call for applications for the 6th edition of the WIA54 programme has been officially launched and women entrepreneurs from Seychelles are invited to present their company and strategy on the form on WIA’s website here: https://wia-initiative.com/fr/wia54-2/
The deadline for applications is May 31, 2022 at midnight CET.
Candidates can apply in the following sectors: Agriculture and Agritech, Food and Foodtech, Education and Edutech, Fintech, Environment and Sustainable Development, Beauty Industries, Creative Industries, Health and Healthtech. The eligibility criteria is that the business must be created or led by an African woman, with a first traction on the market in terms of sales, number of users, funds raised, and she should be part of one of the eight categories as her primary business category.
The selection criteria for the projects revolves around having an innovative product, service or technology, proven business model scalability, strong growth potential, ambitious team with strong execution ability, market traction in terms of revenue, number of users, funds raised and lastly, potential impact in Africa.
The African continent has the highest percentage of women entrepreneurs in the world. Over a quarter of adult women in sub-Saharan Africa are entrepreneurs. Women invest up to 90% of their income in education, health and food for their family. Men only invest up to 40% of theirs.
About the WIA Initiative:
Women in Africa was launched in 2016. Hafsat Abiola from Nigeria is its current president. It is the foremost international platform dedicated to the economic development and support of African women entrepreneurs. WIA is dedicated to developing programmes that women entrepreneurs need to succeed.
The WIA 54 Programme is organised through WIA’s Endowment Fund, WIA Philantropy. WIA Philantropy’s patrons are Socie´te´ Ge´ne´rale, Roland Berger, Orange, Stop Hunger, AXA, Inetum, Meridiam, Honoris United Universities, DS Avocats, and Total Foundation.
WIA’s main programmes:
– WIA 54 – annual pan-African training programme for women entrepreneurs.
– WIA HUBS – which aims to support African women entrepreneurs locally (the first Hub was created in 2019, in Kinshasa, with the Working Ladies).
– WIA MENTORING – a programme aimed at mentoring the many African talents.
– WIA CODE – the programme focuses on digital skills’ learning for the next generation.
– WIA YOUNG LEADERS – the programme identifies and supports the continent’s young leaders.
– RESEARCH: The WIA Institute collects and collates data on African women and the economy. In partnership with its sponsors, the institute publishes relevant studies every year.
Source: Seychelles Nation
