Deadline: 24-Oct-22
The Awa Prize is a competition organised by Enabel which highlights women entrepreneurs from Belgian development cooperation countries and their projects.
Entrepreneurship knows no borders and no gender. All over the world, women and men are enlivening their communities through their businesses.
Nonetheless, a woman entrepreneur’s path is often strewn with obstacles which make her project more difficult to materialise. For example, inequalities linked to social norms, the time given to family care, difficulties in accessing the market and financing, or physical and psychological violence based on gender are obstacles for many women.
Aware of the economic stakes and committed to acting in favor of a better distribution of opportunities, Enabel has developed at the request of the Minister of Development Cooperation and Major Cities Policy, Meryame Kitir, the Awa Prize, Entrepreneurs with impact.
Categories
- Candidates may choose to apply in one of the following categories:
- Start-up Category: This award is for companies that have been in existence for at least one year and no more than three years when the Competition is launched.
- Scale-up Category: This award is for companies that have been in existence for three years or more when the Competition is launched.
- Innovation Category: This award is intended for any company that develops particularly innovative products, services and/or approaches.
- People’s choice Category: This award is open to any company in the Start-up, Scale-up or Innovation categories wanting to compete for the People’s Choice via an online vote.
Benefits
- The first prize: Up to €50,000.
- The second prize: Up to €10,000.
- The third prize: Up to €5,000.
Participating countries for the 2022 Edition: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, DRC, Guinea, Jordan, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Palestine, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda.
Eligibility Criteria
- Who is the Awa Prize for?
- To apply to the Awa Prize, you must:
- Be a women for a legal age in her country of residence.
- Have the nationality of one participating country.
- Be the (co-)founder and/or non-minority shareholder of a company which has been registered for at least 1 year in participating country.
- Targeted women entrepreneurs
- The Competition is open to any woman (co-)founder and/or majority or equal partner in a company based in one of the selected countries.
- No minimum company turnover is required. Nevertheless, as the objective of the Competition is to highlight high-impact projects, the demonstrated and/or potential socio-economic benefits of the selected companies will be key selection criteria.
- As participation in the Competition is entirely digital, candidates must have access to an internet connection. Candidates must also be able to understand and express themselves in French or English.
For more information, visit https://stories.enabel.be/awa-prize/
