A hundred women-owned businesses from East Africa will have the opportunity to receive funding and grow their operations, through Invest2Impact.
The competition was launched by Graca Machel, the children and women rights advocate and founder of the Graca Machel Trust.
The competition is funded by leading development finance Institutions (DFIs) from the G7 countries such as FinDevCanada, the Commonwealth Development Corporation Group (CDC) of the United Kingdom, Proparco of France and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) of the United States and the MasterCard Foundation.
The competition organizers expect 20 winners from each of the participating East African companies. The winners will receive upto USD 85,000 each in funding.
Ms. Machel said at the launch of the competition in Nairobi, “Research shows that increasing women’s involvement leads to improved financial management and more sustainable, thriving communities.”
The winning business should be businesses whose focus is centered around the Sustainable Development Goals, which collectively seek to reduce poverty, increase access to health and education services, reduce hunger and increase food security, promote gender equity, create decent working conditions for their employees and spur economic growth, have a greater chance of being considered for the funding.
Eligible businesses should be wholly or partially (50%+) owned by a woman, and should have revenues or assets whose value is estimated at over $50,000.
They must also have been in operation for 3 years or more, and employ at least five employees.
In the challenge which starts on July 11th, successful businesses will be divided into four categories.
These categories are determined by the companies annual revenues, whether or not they are social enterprises or innovative businesses with a with a high potential to attract public support as well as those seeking to improve their marketing efforts.
Director of Impact at FinDev Canada, Stephanie Emond, said, “The competition is not for start-ups but established businesses.”
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Invest2Impact starts on July 11 and will end on the 13th of November.
It will provide women business leaders with business development services, mentorship programmes, new networks and business visibility through partnerships.
Applications for the competition will be made via an online portal to be released to the public this coming week.
The portal will be open for applications for two months.
