opportunities-for-african-social-entrepreneurs

Application Deadline: July 15 2013

Applications are being accepted for GSBI Online, the online version of Santa Clara University’s highly regarded, 11-year-old training program for worldwide social-entrepreneur ventures, the Global Social Benefit Incubator or GSBI™.

Up to 20 ventures will be selected and enrolled in the six-month program, each receiving a scholarship to participate. Those selected will be notified in early September.

GSBI Online helps early-stage social enterprises that have the potential to create significant social impact through financially sustainable operations. Each accepted entrepreneur will be guided by two mentors who will provide hands-on assistance: an experienced Silicon Valley corporate-level executive, and a local in-country executive.

The rigorous, structured curriculum will last from October 2013 through March 2014. Successful participants will graduate armed with a fundable plan for scaling their organization, including a business-plan summary presentation, an “elevator pitch,” and a one-year operating plan.

GSBI Online Overview

GSBI Online focuses on organizations which have the potential to create significant social impact and to conduct financially sustainable operations. Compared to our program for more advanced enterprises, the GSBI Accelerator, GSBI Online targets earlier stage social enterprises.

The curriculum uses GSBI’s proven methodology, is available on-demand, and incorporates best practices of online learning. Working at their own pace over a maximum of seven months, each entrepreneur will participate in nine online modules, guided by both a GSBI-provided Silicon Valley mentor and a local mentor, identified by the entrepreneur (with GSBI’s assistance if required).

What the GSBI Online modules will focus on

Mission, opportunity, strategies
External environment
Target market segmentation
Value chain analysis
Organization and human resources
Business model
Success metrics
1-year operating plan
Financing strategy

What will the program will teach

GSBI Online uses a tested approach of high-touch one-to-one mentoring with successful Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and CEOs with a structured curriculum delivered entirely online and designed to create the following tangible outputs:

Business plan summary
Elevator pitch
1-year operating plan
Innovation profile (a 2-page overview/executive summary used for marketing purposes)

Entrepreneurs are expected to dedicate 5 to 10 hours/week over the six months of the program, working with their mentors to complete lessons by assigned deadlines. Program completion is marked by a final graduation presentation delivered by the entrepreneur to an audience of investors, mentors, and GSBI staff.

Who should Apply

Those who want to create a sustainable, scalable business with a social impact-based mission and are beyond the idea stage. Applicants should already have tested their product or service, have established proof of concept and identified a sustainable business model.

How to Apply

Begin the application process by filling out the application form with details about you and your enterprise.

The 2013 GSBI application form consists of the following core elements:

Leadership team
Overview of the organization
Organization’s vision, goals, impact and market
Budget summary
Challenges & opportunities

Download the application form from this link to prepare your answers. When you are ready, paste your answers into the online application form. Your application will be treated confidentially.

The Application Form helps us better understand your organization’s purpose, history, and future goals; it also provides us with some basic data on your funding sources and cost structure.

Please tell us about the challenges you have been facing as well as your organization’s strengths and the opportunities you see to further develop your good work.

Selection Process

We will select up to 20 applicant organizations to receive a scholarship for participation in the next cohort of GSBI Online.

The upcoming cohort of GSBI Online will start in October 2013 and go through March 2014. It will consist of online, mentored exercises that are designed to create a business plan summary presentation with a credible financing strategy.

We will begin accepting applications April 22, 2013. All interested entrepreneurs should apply by completing the online application form by July 15, 2013.
For More Information:

The Global Social Benefit Incubator Brochure

GSBI Online Application Form

Apply Now for The Global Social Benefit Incubator Program 2013

Application Deadline:September 20 2013

What if you were the Orange African Social Entrepreneur of the year 2013?

The Orange African Social Venture Prize will once again reward three entrepreneurs or start-ups offering products or services that make innovative use of ICTs to meet the needs of people on the African continent in fields as varied as healthcare, agriculture, education, energy, industry and trade.

Orange is committed to financially supporting and offering its expertise to the management of the growing small and midsize companies who are awarded this prize.

The prize-winning projects in 2012 involved mobile technology used to assist traders in food products in Ivory Coast (Vivuus Limited), a system launched in Kenya to improve the treatment of waste (Takachar) and the creation of an e-commerce site to allow people in the Senegalese diaspora to shop online for their families in Dakar.

This year, internet users will once again be able to vote online for their favourite project using the Orange portal in Africa www.StarAfrica.com. The project voted “online favourite” will be submitted directly to the jury along with the other finalists’ projects preselected by the experts and will therefore have the maximum possible chance of being among the three winners of the 2013 Awards.

In 2012, the Egyptian start-up “Innovative Electronic Employment Platform” won the prize with more than 50,000 votes.

The 3 projects designated by the jury will receive a donation:

1st prize: 25 000 euros,
2nd prize: 15 000 euros,
3rd prize: 10 000 euros.

In addition to receiving an endowment of 10,000 to 25,000 euros, the three prize-winners will receive six months of support from entrepreneurial and ICT experts.

Moreover, and for the first year, the winner will benefit from a patent application that will be submitted and paid by Orange.

Who can take part?

Any entrepreneur aged 21 or over, or company that has existed for less than three years at the time of the competition, regardless of nationality, can enter the awards free of charge. The projects submitted must have plans to deploy their service in at least one of the African countries where Orange is present and make innovative use of information and communication technologies to contribute to improving the living conditions of people in those countries.

Applications may be submitted between 14 May and 20 September 2013.

Visit www.starafrica.com for More Information.