A unique opportunity for Start-Ups!

In Africa as elsewhere, many young people aspire to start their own business and build a brighter future, which is why we’ve created the « Startupper of the year by Total »challenge.

Ideas deserve support, especially great ones. And promising ideas deserve a helping hand.

Google, Facebook, Daily Motion, Twitter, Deezer, Airbnb and other leading names in the 2.0 economy all started as the brainchild of inspired young people. There’s no shortage of startuppers in Africa — iCow(1), Afate 3D Printer(2), CardioPad(3), Obami(4), Sense Ebola Follow up(5) and M-Iouma(6) are already shaking up the continent.

IF YOU’RE CURRENTLY PREPARING A BUSINESS PLAN OR ARE IN THE EARLY STAGES OF CREATING YOUR OWN BUSINESS, YOU’RE ELIGIBLE TO ENTER OUR CHALLENGE!

Total Wants You

Are you under 35 years old? Do you want to create a business or develop one that is less than two years old? Are you a citizen of one of these 34 African countries: Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Guinea, Republic of the Congo, Reunion, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia or Zimbabwe?* If so, this challenge is for you!

We’re interested in all your projects, regardless of the type of business or activity, as long as they share the characteristics common to creative start-ups: innovation, competitiveness, growth boosting and job creation.

*The contestant must be a citizen of the country where its application is submitted in order to create or develop its project there. Only one application by contestant is admitted.

ENTER THE CHALLENGE!

Create a profile here to take part.

To enter, create your profile and provide the required information online. To support, justify and illustrate your project, you can attach as many documents as you wish to your application, including:

• your résumé,
• your business plan,
• your financing plan,
• your partnership strategy,
• an executive summary,
• a marketing brochure,
• your logo,
• your graphic standards,
• and/or a photo or video presentation, etc.

Think Global, Act Local

What challenges need to be tackled where you live? How will your innovative project address them? After you show us how, we’ll support those of you who will inspire, create, invest, hire and produce, all to transform "your" world

1 Kenyan start-up. Agricultural information service by mobile phone.
2 Togolese start-up. 3D printers made from discarded electronics.
3 Cameroonian start-up. Touch screen medical tablet designed to save lives.
4 South African start-up. Alternative learning platform.
5 Nigerian start-up. A mobile tool to help contain Ebola.
6 Senegalese start-up. Country’s first online agricultural stock exchange.

Funding, Mentoring In 2015 WIMBIZ Competition - 2 days to go!! Apply now

Applications are now open for the WIMBIZ 2015 Impact Investment Competition!

Theme: Women in Technology

The Award:

1,000,000 NGN will be awarded to the top 3 businesses.
The top 10 applicants will be granted scholarships to attend the Annual Conference
Awards will be presented to the winners during the closing ceremony of the Annual Conference
The winners will be assigned mentors on the platform of the WIMBIZ mentoring program

What is the Impact Investment Competition?

This is a business plan competition for start-up businesses in the impact investment niche.

The 2015 competition will equip 3 female owned startup businesses in the technology industry with the necessary support to ensure their success and sustainability.

For a business to participate, it must:

• Have clearly defined goals and objectives
• Be sustainable and profitable
• Impact society
• Be in the start-up phase and should not be more than 12 months old (new businesses are welcome to apply)
• Be a technological start-up

Application Deadline:

Monday, 31st August, 2015

How Does One Apply?

Fill in the online application here

You will be required to upload create and upload a 1-3 minute(s) video marketing your unique product and/or service, upload to YouTube and paste the link to your application

Who Can Apply?

To apply for this award:

• You must be a citizen of Nigeria
• You must be a woman between the ages of 21-30
• Your business must be situated in Nigeria and should have a sustainability component for Nigeria
• The value of your request should not exceed 300,000NGN
• The business must be in the start-up phase and should not be more than 12 months old
• The owner must demonstrate commitment and interest in the business

PROJECT FUNDING BY THE US CONSULATE IN NIGERIA

The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General Lagos works with non-government organizations (NGOs), academic institutions and individuals to increase cooperation on issues of mutual interest. Contingent upon availability of funds, through small grants of less than $9,000, the U.S. Mission in Nigeria is able to provide financial support to a specific program or initiative that supports shared goals. Funded projects typically range from 5,000 to 9,000 USD.

Each year, the Public Affairs Section in Lagos accepts applications until August 10, 2015 for projects being implemented the following calendar year. Proposals submitted after August 10, 2015 will not be considered for funding. All grants must be signed before the end of September 2015.

Grants may be awarded to support the following goals:
• Mutual Understanding – culture, art, higher education, understanding American society and government
• Global Issues – environment, energy independence and sustainability, counter-terrorism, immigration, and economic prosperity
• Democracy and Human Rights – minority integration, human rights, transparency in government, freedom of media, empowerment of women and youth, and citizen participation in entrepreneurship
• Regional Security – transatlantic cooperation

The criteria for these grants are as follows:
• Applicant should be a local Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) registered or individuals based in the following states: Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, and Cross River.
• Applicant must give a project description and implementation plan.
• Grants generally cover up to 12 months of activity.
• Proposed projects should be innovative, have objectives that are sound and well-thought-out, and clearly indicate the target audience.
• Proposed projects should have clearly defined outcomes and evaluation methods.
• Funding cannot be provided to pay ongoing salary costs. Cost-sharing by the requesting organization is an important factor in evaluating grant proposals.

Eligible proposal shall consist of:
• Applicant should fill application form (SF424)
• Organization/company profile, project description, detailed budget, activity timeline, discussion of the target audience, detailed expected outcomes. The budget must be comprehensive and specific. No block awards can be issued. The organization must have access to a bank account, as funding will be dispersed to grantees in installments by electronic bank transfer.

Public diplomacy grant proposals received will be reviewed and/or selected according to program needs and funding availability. If you or your organization would like to apply for funding for a specific project, please send a detailed description of your project along with a budget to:

Public Affairs Section
U.S. Consulate General Lagos
2 Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos
Email: culturallagos@state.gov

Projects selected for funding will be provided with SF-424 form as part of the funding requirements at the second stage of the grant process.

Please direct your questions and/or concerns to culturallagos@state.gov.

Source - http://www.smebizinfo.com/

Funding Opportunities for SMEs in Nigeria and Africa - June 2015...

There is no better time to be an entrepreneur than now. The only thing though is, you need to plug in to the available opportunities for growth by getting the right information. I have gone through my sources and compiled a small list of the some of the opportunities available currently.

All the best.....

1. YBLN Aspiring Entrepreneurs programme

The YBLN initiative is a mandela washington fellows and the Atlanta business league to reduce unemployment rate by 3% before December 2016.

The Aspiring entrepreneurs program is an 8 week residential entrepreneurship training and development program that would select and train a large cohort of young people with viable business ideas.

This year 30 promising and aspiring entrepreneurs will partake in the program and would get the opportunity to start their own businesses. The intention is for them to employ a minimum of four people each before December 2016.

to apply, click here

Read more about the program from our friends at +EntrepreNEWS  here

2. GEMS4 Enterprise Challenge Fund

The GEMS4 Enterprise Challenge Fund is a £3.5 Million private sector development matching grant fund

The objective of the Fund is to catalyse private sector investment in innovative, commercially viable, and inclusive business models that result in improved performance of the Wholesale and Retail sector, jobs and improved income opportunities for poor men and women engaged in the sector.

By improving private sector perceptions of the associated costs and benefits of innovating and adopting pro-poor models, it will encourage replication.

It is intended that the impact of funding given to an individual project will be multiplied by the resulting and recurring changes to perceptions and practices in the Wholesale and Retail Sector.

Read more about it here

3. Building Entrepreneurs Today (BET5) programme

This year’s BET programme has been streamlined to focus mainly on

• Fashion and Lifestyle
• Agriculture and Information 
• Communication Technology

Pointing that the ripple effect of increased economic activity on these sectors has remained monumental on the economy.

Tagged “Pitch In 60 Seconds’’, the programme expects MSME operators who are applying to be considered for the training and grant, to submit a 60 seconds video clip showing them ‘’pitching their business idea’’ to the public. For objectivity, the audience or viewers will be invited to vote for their favourite business idea(s). The businesses with the highest votes qualify for the next round of selection.

Application for this year’s edition of BET is scheduled to commence on June 16, 2015 and is open to the general public. To apply, please visit: www.diamondbankbet.com for more information.

4. Demo africa pitch

The deadline for applications to DEMO Africa 2015 has been extended. The application window which was scheduled to close on 30th May 2015 has been extended for a month with the new deadline set for June 30th 2015.

Applications are still being accepted in the 12 application categories which include: Agriculture, Health, Education, Manufacturing and Retail. Others are Media and entertainment, Communication, Transport and Logistics, Energy, Finance and Banking, Water and Sanitation, Waste Management and recycling.

Over the past few years various angel networks have emerged across Africa. The African Business Angel Network is a new initiative to connect and strengthen all these networks. On Wednesday September 23, the African Business Angel Network, Lagos Angels Network, DEMO Africa and VC4Africa, will jointly present “The African Opportunity: Angel Investing in Africa” Investor Summit at DEMO Africa 2015 in Lagos, Nigeria.

H. Tomi Davies (or TD as he is popularly known) is a co-founder of the Lagos Angels Network (LAN), a prominent figure in Africa’s early stage investor scene, and the President of the newly founded African Business Angels Network (ABAN).

The main DEMO Africa event is slated for 24th and 25th September 2015 at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, Nigeria. Following a successful run last year, an Investor Summit is taking place September 23rd: various investors including Cairo Angels, Lagos Angels Network, Ivoire Business Angels, Viktoria Angels, Ghana Angel Investors Network, Africa Angels Network, Cameroon Angels, Silicon Cape, VC4Africa Investor Network, and others will come together to discuss the “Africa opportunity” as well as discuss best practices, share lessons learned and set the road map for the future.

See this post on how you can register for the DEMO Africa Innovation Pitch.

source - http://www.smebizinfo.com/

5. She leads Africa Pitch competition #slapitch2015



The She Leads Africa business pitch competition provides a platform for the most promising female entrepreneurs in Africa to connect to prominent mentors, business funding and new market opportunities.

They are looking for businesses:

- With at least one female member on the founding team between the ages of 18 and 35
- Have received less than $50,000 in funding?
- Less than than 3 years old
- Focused on the African market or diaspora
- Have already begun operations. Entrepreneurs at the idea stage are not eligible to apply

The top applicants will be invited to Lagos to pitch their business ideas in front of a panel of notable business personalities for the chance to win cash and in kind prizes as well as exclusive meetings with angel investors, prominent venture capitalists and other leading professional mentors and sponsors.

Applications close on June 30, 2015. Questions can be sent to info@sheleadsafrica.org with "Pitch Competition 2015" in the subject line.

Go here to apply.

STOP DREAMING, GET YOUR DREAM STARTED with NESCAFE

The last one of this series of opportunities is from Nescafe...... 

Details

Do you have a dream? Can your dream make the difference for your community, your country or even the whole world? Enter the NESCAFÉ Get Started challenge and show everyone how powerful your idea is.

All you need to do is to submit your dream here. If you find it published on the website the following week, it means that it’s passed the preselection. This is the time to get as many votes as possible, so make sure you get all your friends to vote for your dream.

The 4 most impressive dreams will receive support from inspiring African mentors to pitch their ideas to the grand jury. The ultimate winner’s dream will get started by NESCAFÉ.

Check out the winner of NESCAFÉ Get Started 2014

2014 Winner

Muazu, Nigeria

5 GOLDEN RULES TO GET STARTED


1. Your dream must not be of material benefit to oneself.


2. Your dream should focus on one of these categories: Technology, Arts and Culture, Community Development, Environment or Health.


3. Your dream must have an action plan.


4. Your dream must start something big for you and people around you.


5. Make us fall in love with your dream and we’ll help you to get it started.

You can also watch +Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr. CFA s inspiring video for the project here

All the best fam!

APPLY NOW! - Etisalat easybusiness millionaires hunt

This is the season for entrepreneurs! It appears the world can't get enough of us. Don't let this season pass you by. You should apply for any one of these funding opportunities flying around. What's to lose? If you hold back because you think someone will steal your idea, while you are hustling to raise the money through other methods, you will wake up one day to see your idea implemented by someone else. Ideas are cheap.....

Easybusiness millionaires hunt

Just like it was Last year, this year’s Hunt for Nigeria’s next small and medium business millionaires will reward the Top 10 business ideas with a N2,000,000 financial grant each.

Also, contestants with the Top 50 business ideas will be rewarded with brand-new office equipment and 1-week entrepreneurship training at the prestigious Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos.

Call for entry opens on Thursday 12th March, 2015 and closes on Friday 12th June, 2015.

To participate in the Hunt, 

Interested subscribers must:

• Recharge their Easybusiness line with N3,000
• Dial *345*3# to pay for 3 months’ subscription upfront
•  Text YES to 5885 from their easybusiness lines to opt-in for the competition.
• An SMS would be received indicating a unique code and a URL where the business idea should be forwarded to.

Existing Easybusiness customers who have subscribed for a minimum of 3 months in advance are also eligible to participate.

Also, every interested Easybusiness customer who texts YES to 5885 will be automatically entered for a daily draw to win phones, with 5 phones up for grabs daily throughout the entire call-for-entry period.

In addition, all customers who successfully submit their business ideas on the designated online portal will be automatically entered for a monthly draw to win brand-new office equipment such as all-in-one scanners, printers, and photocopiers – with 5 winners emerging every month.

For more information on the Easybusiness Millionaires Hunt Season 2:

Visit

http://www.etisalat.com.ng/easybusinessmillionaireshunt"
www.etisalat.com.ng/easybusinessmillionaireshunt

or

Visit the nearest Etisalat Experience Centre

or

Contact the enterprise marketing team by email 

Funding and Business Development Opportunities For SMEs in Nigeria

Does your business make impact in the following space?

• Agriculture and Agricultural Processing
• Manufacturing: Production of affordable products/services with high relevance for women, youth and (or) small holder farmers 
• ICT and Media 
• Recycling and Renewable Energy

Nextzon has been commissioned by Oxfam to implement an Oxfam funded business development service platform for SMEs in Nigeria.

Objective:

The Objective is to identify qualifying SMEs (with specific impact objectives) that can be structured and made bankable for potential funding. This will include Expanding SMEs and Early Growth Enterprises with difficulty accessing finance.

Selected SMEs will have the opportunity to be funded by an Oxfam supported impact fund (in either equity, quasi-equity or debt and as the business case may justify).

Areas of Interest:

SMEs across the listed sectors impacting women, youth and small holder farmers through job creation, improved incomes and the availability of affordable products and services of high relevance (to the target groups).

Your business could be eligible for the Oxfam Impact Investment based on the following criteria:

• Your business is a few years in operation and has started generating revenues
• You are socially committed and are willing to take on social and environmental responsibilities.
• You are committed to meeting environmental, social and corporate governance standards.
• You have a proven track record in your line of business.
• You are supported by a strong management team with a proven track record.
• Your business model is attractive and you have a clear value creation strategy.
• Your business is well positioned to benefit from market growth.
• You are looking for an investment size of between € 100,000 and € 1,000,000.

If you think your business is an ideal candidate to receive an Inclusive Impact Investment, proceed to application stage.

Follow this link - APPLY

Please have your financials and financial projections handy for this process.

Note: if you do not receive an email notification confirm the receipt of your application, contact the below:

Visit: http://www.inclusive-investments.com/

Email to: ventures@nextzon.com , nextzonventures@gmail.com , infonigeria@oxfamnovib.nl

Call/Text: 08166452418, 07017726747 or tweet: @smecapex

Grants and Awards for Entrepreneurs in 2015

I joined  Weconnectinternational last year and apart from the support network I have access to, I also get useful updates on seminars, grants and anything else that can help a woman survive in the Nigerian entrepreneurial space.

That's the badge I wear with pride

 +Comfort Sakoma, our Nigerian country director and her team have summarized the available grant opportunities for Nigerians at the moment, complete with deadlines and all. I think it's worth sharing. 

YouWin
Deadline: 30 January 2015 (Round 1)
Apply here: https://www.youwin.org.ng/

 YouWiN! stands for Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria. It is an innovative business plan competition aimed at job creation by encouraging and supporting aspiring entrepreneurial youth in Nigeria to develop and execute business ideas. The accomplishments of the 1,200 YouWiN! awardees were celebrated at the Presidential Villa on April 12, 2012. YouWiN! Women was the second edition of the entrepreneurial scheme, which was designed for only female entrepreneurs aged 45 years or less. The third edition, YouWiN! 3, which support both male and female entrepreneurs in Nigeria, recently announced the 1500 awardees. With the upcoming launch of YouWiN! 4, the President of Nigeria will have fulfilled his promise to financially support over 3,600 Nigerian youths to develop their entrepreneurial ideals and plans through the YouWiN! program. YouWiN! 4 is open to both male and female entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 - 45 years.

Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards
Deadline: 27 February 2015
Apply here: http://cartierwomensinitiative.com/

The +Cartier Women's Initiative Awards are an international business plan competition created in 2006 by Cartier, the Women's Forum, +McKinsey & Company  and INSEAD business school to identify, support and encourage projects by women entrepreneurs. A WEConnection won last year and she will be sharing her application experience at upcoming Weconnection events!

The mission of the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards is threefold:

• To identify and support initial-phase women entrepreneurs through funding and coaching
• To foster the spirit of enterprise by celebrating role models in entrepreneurship
• To create an international network of women entrepreneurs and encourage peer networking

The Cartier Women's Initiative Awards aim to encourage the most vulnerable category of entrepreneurs in their most vulnerable phase: women entrepreneurs starting up. Since their inception in 2006, they have accompanied over 140 promising female business-owners and recognized 44 Laureates.

It is interesting to note that in the 8 year CWIA history, the Laureates for Sub-Saharan Africa came from Nigeria in 2009, 2013 and 2014! Please find below a flyer for the Awards / Application.

The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme
Deadline: 28 February 2015
Apply here: http://www.tonyelumelufoundation.org/teep/

The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme is the flagship entrepreneurship programme of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, founded by visionary entrepreneur and philanthropist, Tony O. Elumelu, CON. Our goal is to create 10,000 businesses that can generate 1,000,000 new jobs and contribute at least $10 billion in annual revenues to the Africa economy. The programme is open to all citizens and legal residents of any one of the 54 African countries. The proposed business must operate in Africa.

The 7 Pillars of TEEP are:

- Mentoring
- Start-up Enterprise Toolkit
- Online Resources
- Boot-Camp
- Elumelu Entrepreneurship Forum
- Seed Capital Funding
- TEEP Alumni Network

The pillars have been designed to address the essential needs to ensure success for an African entrepreneur.

Wish you the best as you apply for these programs. 

Keep us updated on your successes!

Cheers everyone!

YouWin 4 is now Open - What you need to know #strikedanvil

First time I heard about #YouWin was during the second edition. I was skeptical at first but eventually submitted thinking, hey what do I have to lose. Ya geh didna win that one, nor did she win the third either. I got to stage two, went for that whole day training at LBS in Ajah but fell out in stage two... sob sob. Anyway, ya geh ain't giving up! For where. Lol. Not even now when I know so many winners from the different editions. I will just re-strategize and re-package, yes ke!

I was at the NASME (National association of small and medium enterprises) monthly meeting last week, when someone announced that applications for this edition have now opened, to my surprise some people are still of the opinion that is it all a scam. "Is it not government" they said, "they are just giving it to their friends and family" haaaa!! I struggled to close my hanging mouth. I can be skeptical sometimes about government, but if any thing, this is one thing I know that has been free and fair (can't say that much for some other things, still go and get your voters cards by the way).

This week on strike the anvil, I have decided to bring on two past beneficiaries of the #YouWin government grant. Trust me, you want to tune in for this one. Yes! Before you go about discouraging people from applying because its government. You will just be roasting when others are balling. Shio to you. 

So what would you like to know? For starters, I bet you want to ask how they won? What did they write sef (my thoughts, considering I am a serial applicant... hehe). What exactly is the government looking for? How has it been, post N10million!! Hey, you can ask whatever. 

Joining us are  +Modupe Nnebedum and the Marketing manager for  explore afrika who was part of the YouWin process with the founder from the start.

Modupe Olayemi Nnebedum (nee Fagbohun) is an Insurance and Human Resource Expert, Professional Photographer, Fashion Designer, Actress, Peer Educator, Business Woman, Wife and a proud Mother. (o ga ju!!)
She is a graduate of Insurance from Lag os State Polytechnic Ikorodu (LASPOTECH)after which she proceeded to Lagos State University (LASU) where she obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management majoring in Entrepreneurship. Never giving up in developing her skills in management, people and resources, she went on to pursue a Masters in Business Management (MBA) specializing in Human Resources from the same institution and Leadership skills from Daystar Leadership Academy where she bagged the recipient of the +Sam Adeyemi Award for finishing 1st overall in the Academy. Modupe is also a Member of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN).

She is currently the Chief Responsibility Officer (CRO) of  HARVEN23 VENTURES (H23), a Coconut company based in Lagos. They are into the production of Premium Virgin Coconut Oil, CocoSheaVera, Coconut Milk Soap, Desiccated Coconut, and Coconut Cream. In today contemporary times where eating and living healthy are becoming the major captions of media headlines, it became imperative for Harven23 to provide knowledge through its enlightenment campaign on the genuine benefits of Virgin Coconut Oil.

I have to share the story about how we met, but I'll do that on the show tomorrow :-)

http://exploreafrika.com.ng/

Explore Afrika is an online travel company based in Lagos, Nigeria. They provide clients with a platform to book, Flights, Hotels and Holiday packages over the internet via their website and offline in our offices.

Who else is excited about the show tomorrow? So make it a date with us on enterprise radio tomorrow, Tuesday 2nd of December (still can't believe we're in December) from 9am to 10am. Please interact with us, Call 09090000061, 09090000062 or tweet at us @eradiong with your questions and comments.

Cheers!