Deadline: 30 April 2019
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Netherlands Senior Experts (PUM) have announced the submission of business ideas within the framework of the Entrepreneurship by Diaspora for Development program.
The overall objective of this program is to encourage the Ghanaian and Ethiopian diasporas residing in the Netherlands, or Dutch entrepreneurs in partnership with the diaspora, to engage as entrepreneurs for the development of the private sector in Ghana and Ethiopia.
More specifically 20 entrepreneurs from the Ghanaian diaspora and 20 entrepreneurs from the Ethiopian diaspora, or Dutch entrepreneurs in connection with the diaspora, will be offered assistance in their journey to start up or expand businesses back home.
20 selected potential entrepreneurs per country will have the opportunity to enrol in training sessions offered by IOM/PUM and to benefit from individual mentoring offered by PUM volunteers.
A final 10 candidates per country will have the opportunity to go on an exploring visit to Ghana/Ethiopia and some candidates will be able to integrate existing incubators. Individual advice will also be offered as to possible financial opportunities.
Eligibility Criteria
- Candidates must be at least 18 years old.
- Candidates must be Dutch residents or Dutch nationals, who are members of the Ghanaian or Ethiopian diaspora or joining hands with the Ghanaian and Ethiopian diaspora.
- Candidates may apply to start-up a business or scale-up a business, based on the following criteria:
- Start-up businesses: Business ideas, concepts and/or prototypes at the very initial stages of development (1-12 months)
- Scale-up businesses: Established businesses must have been at least one year in operation (12 months+).
- All applications must only be submitted using the attached form. No other formats or attachments will be accepted.
- Only applications with completed mandatory parts (part 1 and part 3) will be considered.
- Women and young entrepreneurs are encouraged to submit business ideas.
- Applicants must disclose funding already received at the time of applying or tangible evidence indicating any potential funding opportunity in the near future.
Selection Criteria
- The following criteria will be used to select the applicants invited to the interview.
- Customer needs to be clearly identified: NEEDS
- How is the product or service going to add value for customers? Which of the customers’ problems is the product/service going to solve?
- Business model: APPROACH
- How will the product or service generate revenue? (sales, subscription, advertisement, etc.). How much does it expect to sell in the first year of business?
- Differentiators identified: DIFFERENTIATION
- How is the product or service different from or better than the existing products or services offered by other, competing businesses for the same customers? What is the competitive advantage that allows the business to outperform / do better than competitors? (patent, algorithm, unique service model, etc.)The following criteria will be used to select the applicants invited to the interview
- Initial market identified, and sufficiently large and growing: COMPETITION
- Who will be buying the product or service? How big is the existing market? What is the potential scalability of the business?
- Start-up capital and strategy identified: FINANCIALS
- The applicant demonstrates a clear vision and goal for the future: SKILLS
- The following elements, albeit not compulsory, will be evaluated too:
- The ideas, concepts and/or business proposals fit within the growth sectors and opportunities as identified by GIPC or EIC and i-guide or other sources.
- The proposal is innovative and/or environmentally friendly and supports the achievements of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
How to Apply
Applicants can download the document here, fill out the complete form, save with adding their name to the file name and send it with the form given on the website.
For further information, please visit https://www.connectingdiaspora.org/ed4d/call-for-business-ideas/