Call for Applications: Female Founders Growth Programme (Nigeria)

Female Founders Growth Programme is an accelerator and investment readiness programme under the FSDH Women in Business Initiative, value-added initiative for women in business in Nigeria, created to enable and empower women-led businesses to thrive through access to the right information, opportunities, and networks.

The Female Founders Growth Programme is specially designed in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and WEAV Capital designed to support female-led tech start-ups in Nigeria. The selected startups will partake in a  world-class Investment Readiness Programme designed to support high potential female led tech companies to raise capital. The program will be delivered jointly by the IFC and WEAV Capital.

Selected startups will benefit from tailored made and immersive sessions focused on improving their business model, developing their fundraising strategy, and preparing their data room for investors. Selected start-ups will also benefit from rigorous training on financial management, cash flow optimization, and on investment readiness for both equity and debt funding.

Each participant will also benefit from:

• Matching with a business coach from leading global institutions to work with their business.
• Expert office hours with seasoned subject matter experts accros various fields.
• Networking with leading investors in venture capital and venture debt.

The 6-week virtual program will commence in mid-October and end in November culminating with a Demo-day showcase, where founders will have the opportunity to pitch to a pool of investors, accelerators, and business leaders. All selected start-ups will have the potential to receive funding from participating investors in the programme.

Programme Design

• The Female Founders’ Growth Programme will be held for a total period of 6 weeks and will consist of Mentorship sessions, Masterclasses, and an Investor Pitch Day.
• The Growth Programme will provide participants access to the following:
  • Access to a qualified, experienced faculty via the Masterclasses and Mentoring Sessions.
  • Access to IFC’s Financial Management Training Programme.
  • Non-equity grant of $10,000.
  • Access to Community and Support from peer founders.
  • Access to a Community of leading entrepreneurs.
  • Access to Funding and Investment opportunities.

Funding Information

The top pitch will win non-equity funding of $10,000.

Duration

The 6-week virtual program will commence in mid-October and end in November.  The time commitment required for the program is approximately 5 hours a week.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for the program, companies need to meet the following criteria:

• Have a female founder or co-founder (at least one female needs to be on the founding team).
• Have a Minimum Viable Product and some initial users.
• Achieved annual revenues between $50,000 and 1 million.
• Received less than $500,000 in funding.
• Been in operation for more than a year, but less than 5 years.
• Be a technology or technology-enabled business in any sector
• Be an early stage (pre-seed or seed) company seeking to raise an institutional round of funding to develop their product to the next stage of growth.

For more information, visit FSDH Merchant bank.