Application Deadline: 1 December 2021 11:59 pm (CET)
The Kofi Annan Award has been initiated by the Austrian Federal Chancellery, in collaboration with
the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Accelerator, the Austrian Development Agency and the Kofi Annan Foundation. The Award aims to identify and support promising social entrepreneurs with digital or technology-powered solutions for people in Africa to help them build the foundations to scale.
The Call will be open to African social entrepreneurs and purpose-driven enterprises with a measurable social impact and sustainable business model. The focus of the first edition of the Kofi Annan Award for Africa will be on Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being.
Requirements
The 2021 Kofi Annan Award is seeking to support technology-powered solutions and approaches
that are helping to achieve high quality universal health coverage in African countries, including
financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe,
effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
The Kofi Annan Award welcome applications from social entrepreneurs with digital or technology-powered solutions for people in Africa who are addressing one or more of the following challenges:
• Availability and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and
vaccines (including production, transport and distribution, as well as financial mechanisms
allowing for affordability)
• Access to quality essential healthcare services (including telemedicine: diagnostics, data
exchange between health posts and specialists in hospitals and mHealth (Mobile Healt
• Availability and access to mental health services (including training of mental health
practitioners, tele-health solutions and projects aiming at de-stigmatisation)
• Better prevention and prophylaxis: early warning, risk reduction, and management of health
risks (including disease prevention and prophylaxis and health awareness)
• Improve financial risk protection for the most vulnerable (including micro-insurance solutions,
reduction of out-of pocket expenses, prepayment and pooling of resources for health)
• Wildcard: high potential disruptive innovations in the digital health space are welcomed to apply.
Eligibility criteria
• Your company must be a for-profit legal entity and incorporated for at least two years at the
time of application.
• Your solution is anchored in at least one African country.
• The applicant must have existing contacts / presence in the country of implementation: country
office or other permanent presence, subsidiary, long-term operations or partnerships in the
country.
• Your innovation clearly addresses one or more areas of SDG 3 Target Indicator 8.
• The entity does not fall under any of the points listed in the solemn declaration
• Your innovation has more than 1 million people of total addressable market
• Your startup pays attention to environmental protection and climate change, gender equality and
women empowerment, as well as social inclusion (leave no one behind).
• Your startup is not required to make a monetary contribution to the proposed project budget.
• Your innovation should have a strong proof-of-concept with initial traction and a clear path to
scale.
Benefits
The WFP Innovation Accelerator together with the Federal Chancellery of Austria (BKA), the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and the Kofi Annan Foundation (KAF) wish to support innovative solutions that address the urgent healthcare needs of people across Africa. Therefore, the offer is:
• To select 9 teams that will be invited to participate in a fully virtual WFP Innovation Bootcamp,
where they will benefit from the chance to work with technical and industry mentors who will
provide guidance to further develop and refine their solutions.
• Projects that make it to bootcamp have the opportunity to apply to the Austrian Development
Agency for 3 x EUR 250.000.
• The 3 ventures that are each awarded EUR 250.000 will also join the WFP Sprint Programme, a
12-month acceleration programme with access to mentorship, and a global network of partners.
• The final 9 ventures will be able to tap into and leverage a network of relevant businesses,
investors and mentors.
Your application will be evaluated in equal weight according to the following criteria:
• Impact & Scalability
• Team
• Innovativeness
• Traction
• Business Model
Application Process
1 Applications must be submitted in English
2 To submit an application, please fill in this form by 1 December 2021.
3 If you know a relevant project for us to consider, please let us know here.
4 The Kofi Annan Award will review and contact shortlisted applications for a personal interview
5 9 ventures will be invited to bootcamp and can apply for 3 x EURO 250.000 funding from ADA.
6 3 teams will have the opportunity to be awarded EURO 250.000 each, funding from ADA and will
enter into our 12-months sprint program.
Supporting documents
Please be advised that successful applicants that receive an invitation to the Bootcamp will be
required to submit the following documents:
• Signed Company and Bank Details
• Proof of registration (extract from business register or commercial register, copy of business license)
• Tax registration number, copy of tax registration
• Articles of incorporation.
• Proof of creditworthiness (if available)
• Annual accounts of the last two years (if available)
• Police records /CVs
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the Kofi Annan Award for Innovation in Africa 2021