This year
540 finalists from 54 African countries will be selected to participate in the bootcamp training and personalized mentoring programme, and will become part of the WIA community!
The best candidates at the end of the mentoring/pitch training phase will participate in the pitching phase which will give them access to investors and "seed capital" (June 2023)
54 laureates will have the opportunity to join an MBA programme of our partner Honoris United Universities;
54 laureates will also benefit from a communication highlight worth €5,000 on the WIA social networks;
8 Revelations will benefit from a communication promotion worth €8,000;
The Gold Award will also receive a prize of €10,000;
Course of the programme
WIA54 identifies remarkable African women entrepreneurs who run businesses with high growth potential.
The WIA54 programme will be conducted in several phases, as outlined below:
Call for applications
The call for applications is now closed.
Applicants must complete the application form, which has several sections:
– personal information;
– information about the company.
The application will be done in 2 steps – the WIA team will get back to the pre-selected candidates after step 1.
Selection criteria
The eligibility criteria:- Business created or led by an African woman
- First traction on the market (sales, number of users, funds raised)
- Be part of one of the 8 categories (primary business category)
The selection criteria for the projects:- Innovative product, service or technology
- Proven business model scalability
- Strong growth potential
- Ambitious team with strong execution ability
- Market traction (revenue, number of users, funds raised)
- Potential impact in Africa
The sectors
Applicants have the opportunity to apply in the following areas :
Announcement of the finalists
The announcement of the finalists will take place in July 2022.
After the announcement of the finalists, the different finalists will be directed to the appropriate training path.
The training phase
Once pre-selected and placed in the appropriate training pathway, you will participate in a virtual orientation programme to learn more about the process and we will share with you the timelines and resources available for success.
You will take part in our rigorous business management training and coaching sessions, which consist of a balanced mix of stand-alone online learning and webinar-style training.
Weekly multiple choice questions will track your performance.
At the end of the training phase, women entrepreneurs will again be pre-selected to participate in the mentoring phase.
The mentoring phase
The mentoring phase
The mentoring phase will last six months and will allow the selected entrepreneurs to be accompanied by high-level mentors ready to help them combine all the learnings of the training into one coherent document: the business plan.
Selected entrepreneurs will receive a business and financial plan template that will help them complete their business plan and then review it with their mentor.
After the TRAINING and the PRESENTATION OF THE BUSINESS PLAN, the laureates will be able to move on to the next step: the PITCH COMPETITION
The pitch phase
The pitch phase
WIA54 RESULTS IN 5 YEARS
WIA THANKS ITS PATRONS FOR THEIR SUPPORT
