January 2022

It is probably a little too late to wish you a Happy New Year, but we certainly hope you are off to a great start and hopefully the wide array of event and opportunities in this newsletter even makes it better.

ANDE News

ANDE Announces Eleven Gender Equality Initiative Action Lab Projects to Receive Grants
In 2021, each of ANDE’s eight regional chapters hosted a 9-12 month Gender Equality Action Lab, regularly convening small and growing business (SGB) sector specialists to collectively identify barriers to success, improve existing solutions, and ideate new solutions to gender equality challenges among entrepreneurs. ANDE’s Action Labs use a participatory design approach to convening around shared systems level challenges that individual organizations often struggle to diagnose and address effectively on their own, using a methodology developed in collaboration with ANDE member MIT-D Lab. The  Action Labs participants also ideated projects to address gender challenges in their regions. With funding support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), ANDE is providing one-year grants of USD $48,000-$100,000 to eleven Action Lab projects to implement these ideas. Congratulations to M-Kyala Ventures, Capital Solutions and MKAZIPRENEUR from  East Africa. Learn more about the projects here

Women Climate Entrepreneurs are Critical to Achieving Net Zero
Women have a critical role to play in addressing climate change. Now you have the power to vote for our session  titled: If you are serious about tackling climate change, accelerate women climate entrepreneurs (AWCE) to be part of the upcoming Sankalp Africa Summit agenda. Our proposed session will tackle three key issues:

(1) How are women climate entrepreneurs generating adaptation solutions to climate change.
(2) How to make climate finance gender sensitive.
(3) How to generate opportunities for increased support for women climate entrepreneurs.

The session will be facilitated by Pablo Angulo-Troconis, ANDE’s Advocacy Manager, and Rosemary Amondi, Regional Director, East Africa. Voting closes on January 31st, so kindly take a second to vote now.

ANDE Events

Strengthening Ecosystems for Women Climate Entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa
Date: 27 January 2022
Time: 8:00 am EST | 4:00 pm EAT
Join us for an engaging discussion with industry experts on the recently launched knowledge product by World University Services of Canada (WUSC): Strategies for Incubators and Accelerators: Strengthening Ecosystems for Women Climate Entrepreneurs (WCEs) in Sub-Saharan Africa.  This knowledge product highlights key challenges facing WCEs in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, and Malawi.  It also includes recommendations for ecosystem actors. In this webinar, presenters will discuss how they are working with WCEs, to be followed by a lively Q&A session. Should you have any questions regarding this event please contact Liam Neumann. 

Save The Date: Investment Manager Training (IMT)
Date: 21-25 March 2022
ANDE’s flagship IMT course is the only course of its kind which provides a comprehensive overview of investing in SGBs. It is designed both for investment managers who are actively making investments in SGBs, and capacity development providers who are working to support entrepreneurs through the investment process. Interested in learning more? Join facilitator John Kohler today (January 25) for an informational webinar. 

Sector Events

ANDE Member Discount Code Now Available -Sankalp Africa Summit 2022 | Intellecap
Date: March 1 - 4, 2022 | Virtual and In-person (Nairobi, Kenya)
The 9th edition of the Sankalp Africa Summit will be an unconventional hybrid experience, 3 days of virtual & 1 day of in-person. Join over 2000 stakeholders: entrepreneurs, investors, entrepreneur support organizations and other sustainable development practitioners from across the ecosystem. To register for the event, visit here! ANDE members interested in a discount code can contant Edna Karanja.

Sector Opportunities

Call for Applications: Leadership for Growth Program (Cohort 14) | Amani Institute
Are you a small and growing business looking to accelerate your growth? Increase your organization’s effectiveness and innovation capacity by investing in your team’s leadership skills. Through this impactful and practice-oriented program, participants will have the opportunity to examine their styles of leadership, acquire new skills to lead at a personal and organizational level and prototype a solution to an existing business challenge. Nominate your mid to senior level managers for the Leadership for Growth program. Classes begin on 4th February 2022.

What Does It Take To Make a Women Climate Entrepreneurs Investor Ready? | Future Females
Deadline: 30 January 2022
Future Females is running a community wide survey for women climate entrepreneurs in South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria and Kenya to better understand the barriers and obstacles women in these areas are facing when it comes to looking for support and funding. The survey results will inform a FutureFinance platform, run by Future Females with support from ANDE, to support women entrepreneurs building clean, green and sustainable businesses. If you are a woman climate entrepreneur, looking for funding opportunities, please complete the survey here.  Alternatively, if you know someone who would be interested, please share the survey with them. Should you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact futurefinance@futurefemales.co

Applications Open In Africa and Asia For Adaptation SME Accelerator Project | Lightsmith Group and Village Capital
Deadline: 31 January 2022
Applications are open for a new 1-week intensive virtual program led by The Lightsmith Group and Village Capital. This initiative will help mentor and accelerate SMEs and startups in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean to develop critical climate adaptation solutions. Selected companies will, at the end of the program, join the network of 1,100+ Village Capital alumni, who have historically been able to create 40% more jobs, raise 3x more capital and earn 2.3x more revenue, after program completion.

2022 Kenya Accelerator Program Call for Applications | ygap
Deadline: 31 January 2022
Applications are open for the 2022 ygap Kenya Accelerator Program! This program is designed to support locally-led, early-stage ventures with innovative approaches to business and solutions to challenges faced by its target customers. Over a period of 12 months, the ygap Accelerator Program will help you to refine and validate your business model, move towards financial sustainability, build on your social impact, connect with a network of like-minded entrepreneurs, and receive tailored technical support and advice from our team of local experts. If you run an early-stage venture and want to increase your revenue, create employment opportunities, secure further investment, and make a real difference to your community, this program is for you. Apply today!

​Energy Camp Africa| Startup|Energy
Deadline: 11 February 2022
Do you have a mature product or business idea and/or already a first prototype for the decentralized renewable energy sector in Sub-Saharan Africa? Then Energy Camp Africa is the right place for you. Startup|Energy supports local startups in Africa's decentralized energy sector. Individuals and teams from sub-Saharan Africa who are in the pre-founding phase or whose founding did not take place more than 5 years ago can participate. Find out more here.

Smart Scaling: Map Your Path Training | CASE at Duke
Deadline: 23 February 2022
Social Enterprise Leaders - Get ahead of funder questions on your scaling plan with CASE at Duke’s new training Smart Scaling: Map Your Path. This 3-session live virtual training in Feb/March 2022 will help you get right what others often get wrong. You will leave the training with a strengthened plan for your management, board, and funders. Use discount code ANDE for $75 off registration. More information and register. 

Thematic Call for Solutions: Scalable Employment Models | CFYE
Deadline: 7 March 2022
Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) wants to work with 1 to 4 intermediaries that offer business support and innovative financing mechanisms to Small and Growing Businesses in at least two of its countries of operation. The selected intermediaries together should generate decent employment opportunities for at least 15,000 young people (aged 15 to 35), of which at least half women. Learn more about the opportunity.

Social Impact and Career Growth Fellowship 2022 | MovingWorlds
Deadline: 30 April 2022
Check out this Virtual Social Impact & Career-Growth Fellowship offered by the MovingWorlds Institute! Find more purpose in your work and make a bigger impact with your career. Join a global community and learn leading social impact frameworks, develop skills as a global leader, and expand your network — all while contributing to social good. Join the May 2022 program from anywhere. 

ScaleX | IFC
IFC and the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) launched a new call for applications for IFC ScaleX—a performance-based initiative that will provide an award of up to $25,000 to business accelerators that have helped women-led companies in emerging markets raise equity financing. IFC ScaleX is open for accelerators interested in getting rewarded for enabling women-led startups to raise venture capital. The women-led startup must be in operation in an IFC member country. Accelerators find out more and apply here.

Sector Resources

SME Climate Commitment | SME Climate Hub
The SME Climate Hub provides small and medium sized businesses with a one-stop-shop to make a climate commitment and access tools and resources to mitigate their environmental impact. Over 3,300 SMEs across 90 countries have joined so far. The initiative recently added further support for SME education and emissions measurement and reporting, helping small businesses understand the benefits of climate action and the steps needed to reduce their emissions. Read more about the tools available to committed SMEs.

Business Coaching Tool for SMEs on WhatsApp | Meta
Meta has announced the launch of Facebook Business Coach, an innovative and easy-to-use tool for small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and other English-speaking countries, to learn more about how to grow their business online with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. To chat with a business coach, Visit here!

Gender Lens Investing Research: Insights from Project Sage 4.0 | Wharton Social Impact Initiative
Inclusion and impact are becoming widespread priorities in the investing world. With more and more funds considering gender as a factor in evaluation criteria and portfolio goals, the field of gender lens investing (investing to generate financial returns and a positive impact on women) continues to grow. Project Sage 4.0,  is a new gender lens report researched by Wharton Social Impact Initiative and consultancy Catalyst at Large that quantifies the size and growth of the field. It also analyzes the field’s latest trends — including how it intersects with other elements of impact. This fourth iteration is a landscape analysis of structured private equity, venture capital, and private debt funds with a gender lens.  Read report!

Career Opportunities

Various roles | Sinapis | Nairobi, Kenya
Philanthropy Manager | ygap | Nairobi, Kenya
Investments Technical Lead | Connect Humanity | Remote