Deadline: January 13, 2021
Applications are open for the U.S. Mission to Cameroon Youth Entrepreneurship Symposium 2021 – Building the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs. The U.S. Embassy in Cameroon is inviting applications to carry out a program to enhance the capacity of Cameroonian youth in starting and/or developing a business. The program will consist of three regional workshops in three different regional capital cities of Cameroon.
The aim of this project is to assist new entrepreneurs seeking to expand and grow their businesses and activities. Proposals must demonstrate knowledge of Cameroon’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and propose training modules with the goal of moving seed stage entrepreneurs to the intermediate and expansion stage.
As a result of the training, participants should have measurable increases in sales, employment and capitalization of their start-up enterprises, increased access to capital, and/or marketing planning. Proposals should include follow-up activities after the training to assist participants in applying knowledge acquired to produce results in scaling up and expanding participants’ existing start-ups, and to measure impact of the program.
Program Details
The applicant will design and carry out all aspects of the symposiums. The proposal should include details about symposium length, content, suggested speakers, participant recruitment and selection, etc. The workshops should be conducted in person, in a format that is compliant with COVID-19 prevention measures, and should be interactive and include activities such as practical exercises, case-studies, break-out or large session discussion groups, and/or fact-finding exercises. Applicants are encouraged to identify and highlight specific subjects of emphasis during the symposiums, according to needs of emerging entrepreneurs in the given area.
All proposals must include needs analysis activities to assess participants’ needs, follow-up activities to reinforce training topics and empower the participants to put them into practice, and monitoring and evaluation activities to assess the impact of the project. All proposals must include American resource materials or American-origin entrepreneurship and business models/ideas in the symposium content, and/or involve American experts or alumni of U.S. government exchange programs.
Proposal budgets should include costs for participants’ travel from their residence to the project location, accommodation (as necessary), as well as all necessary working materials and resources. Budgets may also include honorarium for speakers and administrative expenses for the applicant.
Award
- Award amount is between $15,000 to $20,000.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants include:
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education;
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education;
- Private institutions of higher education;
- Individuals.
Target Audience
- Open to Cameroonian entrepreneurs.
- Between the ages of 20-35, with clear and well-defined business ideas in the “seed stage” or “early stage startup” categories of business development.
- They should be drawn from all 10 regions of the country.
Application
The deadline for application is January 13, 2021.
For more information, visit U.S. Mission to Cameroon.
