Scholarship for Social Entrepreneurs the SOCAP16 Application is on for 2016

 

ABOUT SCHOLARSHIP

SOCAP (Social Capital Markets)  a world-renowned conference series dedicated to increasing the flow of capital toward social good which is operated by Mission Hub LLC (MissionHUB), a certified B Corporation founded in 2009 and based in San Francisco.

Social entrepreneurs being the heart of SOCAP prompts them to identify new solutions to pressing issues, balancing true impact with sustainable business models. They prioritize support for inspiring entrepreneurs, as they are the future of the social capital markets.

Application Deadline: June 20, 2016.

Eligible Countries: Scholarship recipients span across the globe

Venue:  Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, USA

Eligibility: If you are an innovator who is using business as a force for positive change in the world, application is now accepted for the SOCAP16 Social Entrepreneur Scholarship

Eligible Field of Study: Entrepreneurship

Since the first SOCAP, our scholarship recipients have spanned the globe, and represented a wide variety of sectors and business models. In 2015 alone, our 140+ SOCAP scholars hailed from more than 35 different countries.

Details & Application

The 2016 scholarship recipients will be supported with the following:

• Free SOCAP16 full conference pass (valued at $1495)
• Impact Accelerator @SOCAP – tailored entrepreneur programming pre-conference
• Hostel accommodations for the duration of the conference
• Recognition and high visibility in the SOCAP program
• Dedicated mentorship from notable impact leaders

The scholarship application closes June 20, 2016. If you know someone who would benefit from this opportunity, please spread the word.

Apply Now by visiting the Application Webpage (Click Here)

The Promotion of African Entrepreneurs & Innovative Solutions were at the forefront of Friday’s MTN Entrepreneurship challenge

The Promotion of African Entrepreneurs & Innovative Solutions were at the forefront of Friday’s MTN Entrepreneurship challenge



 
  On April 8th 2016, JumiaNigeria, in collaboration with MTN and Lagos Business School screened 10 entrepreneurs’ teams at a live pitch event, which took place at the Lagos Business School in Lagos, Nigeria. Jumia Nigeria Managing Director Fatoumata Ba strongly welcomed the initiative, stating that “the Challenge is aimed at promoting and encouraging youngNigerian entrepreneurs.
We want togive them strong opportunities to bring to life innovating projects, in the technology sector, that will empower the modern Nigerian man and woman.”

She noted that “by empowering and supporting Nigerian entrepreneurs, we build a strong ecosystem of start-ups and SMEs that will eventually tackle one of Nigeria’s biggest problem: its high unemployment rate.”
The short-listed teams presented their start-up project at a live pitch before 4 judges; Fatoumata Ba, Managing Director of Jumia Nigeria, Guillaume Leblond, Managing Director of Hellofood Nigeria, Henry Okoede, Senior Manager Business Development MTN Nigeria and Dr Henrietta Onwuegbuzie, Academic Director and Owner Programme at Lagos Business School. They allguided the teams through the live pitches and provided them with feedback and comments on their presentations and expressions.
 The 10 teams includedajaoko, Wazobia Farmers, Medical Digital-Dashboard, Metro Digital Group, Farmers Hub, Trash Collect, UcareIcare Nigeria, Myloveaffairs concepts, Pass.ng and SchoolWork.Those 10 teams were shortlisted by the Judges before the live pitch event and out of a pool of more than 800 applicants across Nigeria.


 Pass.ng and Schoolwork were shortlisted and declared winners of the live pitch event in Nigeria. Both projects are dedicated to empowering students and teachers alike and improving Nigeria’s educational system The projects also recognized the importance of going mobile in Nigeria and presented mobile platforms to help students pass their exams (Pass.ng) and improve the learning experience for students and the teaching experience for lecturers.
 The MTN Entrepreneurship Challenge powered by Jumia is a multi-phased Pan-African competition which started locally in every country across Africa in February. Thousands of applications from African entrepreneurs were received, reviewed and the best ones were selected to pitch in April. The massive participation clearly shows the striking entrepreneurship spirit of the African youth. A spirit particularly adamant in Nigeria which scored the highest number of applications received among all other countries where the Challenge is taking place.


 Indeed, similar live pitches event were organized in countries where Jumia operates, notably Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.


 Pass.ng and Schoolwork will now have to convince another Jury who is convening behind closed doors this week to announce the final list of winners who will be flown to Cape Town for the Grand Finale. Indeed, 10 final winners from across Africa will be flown to South Africa to attend the Entrepreneurship Festival, hosted by the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business on May 27 2016.
 The finalists will have to pitch their project to a room of successful entrepreneurs, business leaders, judges, investors and international media before the grand winner is announced.


 The winner of the MTN Entrepreneurship Challenge powered by Jumia will win a cash prize of US $25 000 dedicated to bringing to life their start-up project and will also benefit from a yearlong partnership with Jumia, where they will have the opportunity to work from any of the e-commerce’s offices across Africa.


 The final winning team will have the opportunity to learn from, and be mentored by experienced and successful entrepreneurs in the JUMIA network.


 Here’s to wishing a tremendous success to our Nigerian start-ups for the next round!


 For more information about the MTN Entrepreneurship Challenge powered by Jumia please visit: http://www.gsb.uct.ac.za/MTNECbyJumia/


source: lindaikeji

Seedstars World* 2016 Application is now open

For the 4th time, Seedstars World will be embarking on a tour through 20 countries looking for promising entrepreneurs for the global seed stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup ecosystems.
This is an effort to connects and invests up to $1.5mn in emerging market startups through its exclusive startup competition in 60 countries.

Nigeria’s own SimplePay was 2013 winner of the prize money followed in 2014 by Flitto, a global crowd-sourcing translation platform. While the South African  Giraffe being the 2015 Grand Winner was awarded the Seedstars trophy and was crowned the “Seedstars World Global Winner 2015” for their innovative solution to reduce unemployment in the emerging markets. The Giraffe platform optimizes the matching of recruiters and job candidates by guaranteeing a two-day turnaround on staffing requests and automating scheduling and CVs in the interview process.


Seedstars World will be kicking off this year’s tour on the 13th of May with the first event being held in Maputo, Mozambique.



 Seedstars World is now accepting applications from startups in Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana, Angola, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia.


ELIGIBILITY
The Competition is open to all persons who are 18 years or older and who are citizens or legal residents in any country in which one of the Local Events are being held.
Applicants may only submit an application to one Local Event.
To apply to the Competition, the startup (“Startup”) must adhere to the following criteria to apply:
•The Startup must have been launched within the last 2 years
•If the Startup has received external funding, it can only be up to USD 0.5m ($500 000)
•The Startup must have a demonstrable product or service (Minimum Viable Product, MVP)
•The founders of the Startup must be prepared to talk about it in public
•Pitch and application documents must be in English or you must provide a translator
•The Startup can be across any field or sector but must be for profit


COMPETITION MECHANICS
Applicants require an invitation code to submit a full application. Invitation codes can be obtained from SSW local partners or by submitting a preliminary application and being invited by SSW to apply. Occasionally SSW will use external party websites to source applications and then provide invitation codes to selected startups to apply to the Competition.
SSW has full discretion to select and invite the applicants to attend and pitch at the Local Events. Local Events are public and require each selected applicant to pitch an idea in up to 6 minutes and respond to questions from the judging panel for up to 4 minutes.
Timing is subject to change and SSW is not responsible for any technical error or disruptions. One winner from each Local Event (“Local Winner”) will be selected by the judging panel to attend the Final Event. The Final Event is expected to be one week in Switzerland and consist of a bootcamp, semi-final and final event. Decisions of the judging panels at each stage of the competition are final and non-negotiable.


For more information on the events see the SSW website.

If you meet the above criteria or know anybody that does, apply via the Seedstars World website.

Google Announces Free Digital Training for 1 Million African Youth

Google in Sub-Saharan Africa has launched a free training programme to equip one million youth with digital skills across the continent.


With its supporting partner Livity Africa, the tech giant is offering two training programmes: Digify Bytes to provide digital skills to young people looking to develop a digital career; and Digital Pro, a three-month immersion scheme for digital specialists.


Through the online portal digifyafrica.com, digital skills, tutorials and courses covering a range of subjects including content creation, digital strategy, web design, social media and app development are available to anyone in Africa upon registration.


To avoid excessive use of data, the portal has been designed to be “light”.
“With digital skills, everyone can succeed online, start a new business, grow their existing one or share their passion,” said Google Kenya Manager Charles Murito at the #digitalskills4Africa training programme launch in Nairobi.


More than 11, 000 Kenyans of the 200, 000 Kenyan youth Google aims to train are already using the platform. A further 400, 000 Nigerians and 300, 000 South Africans are targeted to receive the free training. Another 100, 000 people will be selected from other sub-Saharan African countries.


A group of 65 volunteer Gogglers from around the world are working with Livity on content development, training trainers and delivering the training sessions.


The programme which will run for the next one year was launched three months ago in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya.


source: Footprints2africa

DEMO Africa 2016 is here again, register now to participate with other Entrepreneurs

Do you have a fantastic product for the African market and beyond?
If yes, then here is another chance to do that at the 2016 DEMO Africa.



Date: 22nd and 26th August 2016


The event is hosted in collaboration with the City of Johannesburg, the South African Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the LIONS@FRICA partners.


DEMO Africa is inviting startups who are ready to launch to submit their applications between 31st March and 15th June 2016.


Venue: The 2016 DEMO Africa event will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa .


Note: The best 30 startups will be selected based on their ability to link creativity, innovation and effectiveness.


The entry categories includes;
Health
Education
Agriculture
Commerce
Leisure and Hospitality
Logistics
Renewable Energy
Manufacturing
Banking and Financial Services.



The event affairs spanning 5 days will be kick started by the DEMO Africa boot camp on the 22nd and 23rd of August.


The Lions Summit and the ABAN Investor Summit will be held on the 24th August while the main forum will take place on the 25th and 26th of August.


Shortlisted teams upon application will receive coaching and mentorship to improve their products and business models before presenting them to the world. They also stand to benefit from PR support and the promotion of the launch video after the convention.


If this interests you, then make haste while the sun shines. click on the link to register

Apply for the $1Million USD BCME Bank of Africa - African Entrepreneurship Award (for both men and women)

Application Period: You are free to submit your business idea from February 15, 2016 through May 6, 2016.



Application frequency: Annually


Eligible Countries: African citizens only



Area of Interest: Only businesses that are relevant to one of these categories will be accepted:


•Education – positively impact education in Africa
•Environment – positively impact the environment in Africa
•Uncharted– a high-impact business into unexplored territory or untested markets
About Award


Do you have a dream of launching or growing your business idea in your community?
Then Join the thousands of women (and men) entrepreneurs creating jobs all over Africa and submit your idea for a chance to share in the $1 million award.


Note: At the African Entrepreneurship Award, know your business idea is safe, your time is respected, and your mentorship is our key priority.


During the 2015 entrepreneurship award, just 25% of the business proposals came from women. For 2016, we want to change that.



Eligibility
You must meet the following criteria to be eligible to submit your business proposal:

•You must be a citizen of an African country
•You must be a minimum of 18 years old as of October 1, 2016
•Your business must be applicable in an African country
•Your business proposal must include a technological component (digital, machinery, computers, ICT, automated processes, field related technologies, etc.)
•Your business must be for profit.


Additional Information
•You can submit a proposal as a resident of any country worldwide – keeping in mind that you must be a citizen of an African country◦For example, a resident of the United Arab Emirates with Egyptian citizenship is eligible for this Award
•Your business can operate in any African country even if you are not a citizen of that country◦For example, you can submit a proposal for a different country in Africa than your personal, African citizenship (e.g. a Ghanaian citizen can submit a proposal for a business in Liberia)
•You can submit a proposal for a business already in operation
•Your business can operate across borders in multiple African countries
•Your business should demonstrate the potential to scale beyond one region in Africa to pan-African impact
•You can operate in multiple countries, but you will be asked to designate a primary community in Africa that will benefit or be impacted by your business.




Deadline: May 6, 2016



Application procedure
Submit your business idea from February 15, 2016 through May 6, 2016.


After you submit a completed proposal, a mentor will be in touch with you, guiding you to enhance your idea. And, if you have a better idea, you can resubmit it at least once before May 6, 2016.



Visit Scholarship Webpage for details
https://africanentrepreneurshipaward.com/
Award Provider: BMCE Bank of Africa

Apply for the post of a Growth Manager for Facebook in Nigeria

Facebook is looking for a Growth Manager in Nigeria,


 
Facebook is looking for a product management/development expert with a minimum of 2 years experience to take on a contractual position of a Growth Manager for 1 year plus to help Facebook grow.


According to Tim Neunzig, Growth Manager i18n at Facebook, this is an awesome job opportunity from the Internationalization team at Facebook for applicants based in Nigeria.
Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and   connected. Approximately 1.5 billion people and growing are using the service in over 100   languages. 83% of the people on Facebook are from outside North America and we continue to  expand internationally.


Facebook is seeking a Growth Manager who is obsessed with technology, social media and  business strategy. The ideal candidate will have experience in the consumer Internet and  mobile space.


As a Growth Manager for Nigeria, you will lead Facebook to its full potential in  the local market.  With a deep understanding of the local competitive and product landscape,   you will determine product gaps, identify growth opportunities, drive execution of growth   initiatives, and add value to the Facebook user experience.
job-search


Responsibilities:
•Provide market insights – identify and monitor strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and   threats relevant for Facebook’s adoption in Nigeria
•Explore, Identify and Evaluate strategic growth opportunities
•Ensure product is fully functional and well adapted to be successful in Nigeria
•Partner with the Analytics organization to validate key findings with data
•Escalate to and drive solutions with product management for identified market specific   product issues and gaps
•Design and execute a continuous testing plan for important end-to-end flows
•Track progress on market specific product improvements and measure impact
•Integrate usability studies, research and market analysis into market specific product   reviews
•Understand Facebook’s strategic and competitive position in Nigeria and work to   improve it
•Maximize efficiency in a constantly evolving environment where the process is fluid and   creative solutions are the norm
Requirements:
•2+ years product development and/or testing experience
•Strong problem solving and analytical skills
•Extensive knowledge of online and mobile business models and Internet/consumer   technology
•Creative, resourceful, detail-oriented, highly organized
•Self-driven, comfortable with a fast-paced, always-on, highly ambiguous start-up   environment
•Exceptional communications and interpersonal skills in the primary market language   and English
•Good project/product management skills and the ability to work to tight deadlines
•Understanding of the technical architecture of complex and highly scalable web and   mobile applications
•BA/BS in Computer Science, engineering or related technical field or equivalent working   experience
•Experience with social products, technologies and platforms is strongly desired
•Experience working in startups / successful entrepreneurial adventures and/or working   in a global company/environment highly desired
Join the Facebook team and help connect the people in Nigeria whilst advancing your career to the next level.


If interested in applying, send a short cover letter and resume to i18njobs@fb.com.