East Africa Social Business Ecosystem Builders Program for East African Entrepreneurs (Up to EUR 25,000 in funding)

The East Africa Social Business Ecosystem Builders program, initiated by YY Ventures and Yunus Centre, aims to increase the capacity of the existing ecosystem builders in East Africa by giving them access to new knowledge, technical skills and network.

The program will support ten (10) social business support organisations by enrolling them in a two-month-long learning journey. Through this program, two young professionals from each selected organisation (a total of 20 participants) will attend five workshops, design their own social business support programs with experts’ coaching and guidance, and they can apply for a matching fund of up to EUR 25,000 to implement their program activities.

The selected participants will:

• Receive world-class training from a network of experts to learn the technical know-how to design and implement social business support programs.
• Have access to funding support of up to EUR 25,000 to implement their proposed ideas.
• Have access to a global network of social business experts and other regional ecosystem builders, including microfinance institutions, social business funds, Yunus Social Business Centres and incubators/accelerators.
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Aim and Benefits of East Africa Social Business Ecosystem Builders Program

The selected participants will:

• Receive world-class training from a network of experts to learn the technical know-how to design and implement social business support programs.
• Have access to funding support of up to EUR 25,000 to implement their proposed ideas.
• Have access to a global network of social business experts and other regional ecosystem builders, including microfinance institutions, social business funds, Yunus Social Business Centres and incubators/accelerators.

Requirements for East Africa Social Business Ecosystem Builders Program Qualification

1. Only an organisation can apply; therefore, no individual application will be eligible for the learning journey workshops and later matching fund;
2. Local business support organisations, such as incubators/accelerators, co-working spaces, microfinance institutions, Universities, and Yunus Social Business Centre (YSBC), are eligible to apply;
3. Applicant organisations must be based in one of the four East African regions – Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda;
4. Each organisation should nominate at least two early-stage professionals (one male and one female);
5. Nominated early-stage professionals should be passionate about designing and implementing incubation programs and innovation challenges for young people within their communities; and
6. Participants should commit at least 5 hours per week for two months of the Learning Journey Workshop series and submit an activity plan to improve the social business ecosystem in their country/region.

Application Deadline

March 10, 2023

For more details, visit YY Ventures website

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