Africa Innovation Fellowship, powered by WomEng and the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation is a nine-month leadership and business development opportunity for female African innovators with an early-stage engineering innovation or startup. The Africa Innovation Fellowship aims to develop the talent pipeline for future cohorts of the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation.
Africa Innovation Fellowship (AIF) kicks off with an in-person training week in Accra, Ghana from 14 to 17 June 2020, focused on the idea and business incubation, leadership development, networking and getting pitch-ready. The Fellowship training week is followed by nine months of personalized virtual support with regular check-ins and milestones, ending in March 2021.
Apply now for this unique opportunity to take your innovation to the next level!
Location:
Ghana
Benefits
- Fellowship candidates who apply and are subsequently shortlisted for the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation will receive additional individual coaching and mentoring to support them in getting the pitch ready.
- WomEng will cover the costs of round-trip economy airfares to Accra, accommodation, transfers, meals and program materials.
- The female lead applicant will be invited to attend the Fellowship training week.
Eligibilities
- Applicants must be a female founder or co-founder. Note that the individual can be from a mixed team of co-founders
- Individual applicants must be citizens of a country within Sub-Saharan Africa*. For teams of two or more, the lead applicant must be a citizen of a country within Sub-Saharan Africa.
- The innovation must be based in a country in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Applicants must have an engineering innovation, though they are not required to be an engineering graduate or student themselves.
- Industrial researchers and establishments are not eligible to apply.
- The lead applicant must be over the age of 18. There is no upper age limit.
- The applicant’s innovation can be any new product, technology or service, based on research in engineering defined in its broadest sense to encompass a wide range of fields, including agricultural technology, biotechnology, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer science, design engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, ICT, materials science, mechanical engineering, and medical engineering.
- Applicants should have an early stage engineering innovation and/or startup that:
- Will bring social and/or environmental benefits to a country/countries in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Is accompanied by an ambitious but realistic business plan which is near-ready or has been tested for commercial viability
- Has strong potential to be replicated and scaled up
Eligible Regions: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland/eSwatini, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Apply Online through the given link.
