Deadline: 5-Dec-21
The Young Water Solutions (YWS) is inviting applications for the 2022 Young Water Fellowship (YWF) to empower young entrepreneurs to lead solutions to water problems in their community, offering them a year of support consisting of training, mentoring and seed capital for their business ideas.
In 2022 the second edition of this program will be held, which aims to incubate 10 innovative social companies led by young entrepreneurs, which contribute to solving problems of water, sanitation, hygiene, water pollution and / or water scarcity in Latin America and the Caribbean.
2 of these youth teams will be chosen through the e-Hackathon on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Informal Settlements, to be held in March 2022. YWS will choose the remaining 8 through this public call.
Benefits
- Online training: 7 online sessions through a platform 1 Saturday per month (in the morning) from March to September, in which the entire team can participate.
- Face-to-face training: One week of face-to-face bootcamp in a country in the region (100% paid for 1 representative of the team, exact dates and modality to be confirmed) in September 2022m with the possibility for the rest of the team to participate in the online sessions or to finance the travel assuming all costs.
- Coaching: From March to December you can request coaching meetings with Young Water Solutions, cewas and Impact Hub, for help with the challenges they face during the training phase, PMV or implementation of the pilot project. They will also connect them with relevant organizations and share other funding opportunities.
- Seed capital request: During the training, they will begin to plan validation actions to reach a Minimum Viable Product (MPV) and then validate the impact through a pilot project. For both processes, each team may apply to receive seed capital, and obtain up to between € 3,500 and € 5,000 (depending on the needs and available financing) to implement it during the following months.
- Mentoring: After the training phase, they can request to be assigned a mentor whose profile matches their needs and can complement their skills. This mentor will guide you and provide additional advice during the pilot project.
- Young Water Fellowship Alumni Network: Upon completion of the program, they will be added to their Young Water Fellowship Alumni Facebook group, where they will have the opportunity to meet other Fellows from previous years, exchange information, and receive additional helpful resources.
- Networking opportunities: Towards the end of the program, the Pitching Night will be held, a networking event in which they will have the opportunity to present their business ideas to relevant actors, possible allies, clients and investors at the Latin American level.
Additional Information
The Young Water Fellowship program offers one year of support that includes:
- Semi-face-to-face training in business applied to water and sanitation companies. It will consist of 7 online sessions on Saturday mornings (from March 26), and a week of face-to-face bootcamp in September (place and dates to be defined), with the trip paid
- Bi-monthly coaching by their team;
- Opportunity to receive seed capital (up to € 5000) for MVP and pilot project.
Eligibility Criteria
The main requirements to apply include:
- Be between 18 and 30 years old at the time of application
- Be a citizen and resident of a country in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Be the founder or co-founder of the business idea, and have time to develop it
- Present a business idea that solves a water, sanitation and / or hygiene problem and is in its infancy, ready to be tested
- Be able to understand and express yourself in Spanish
- Have a work team with which to develop the idea
- To be able to participate in the 7 virtual sessions on Saturday mornings from March to August, and in the face-to-face training in a Latin American country
- You intend to stay in your country for a minimum of 1 and a half years after training and dedicate at least 15 hours per week to work in your social enterprise.
- You have at least an intermediate knowledge of Spanish; you are able to understand and express opinions in this language (training and coaching will be in Spanish).
- You have a team of co-founders of the future social enterprise who are willing to dedicate time to developing their start-up in the coming months (training, pilot project).
- You and your team are not business experts. Candidates with zero, basic or medium knowledge will benefit the most from the content taught in the training.
For more information, visit https://youngwatersolutions.org/latam/?lang=es