Deadline: March 13, 2022
The Westerwelle Young Founders Programme 2022 is now open for applications. The Young Founders Programme is a 6-month fellowship for outstanding young entrepreneurs from emerging markets. It brings together leaders from all over the world, who are united in the pursuit to achieve entrepreneurial greatness. They offer targeted support to scale our founders’ ventures and develop their leadership abilities, with the following programme plan:
- Kick-Off Conference: A two-day digital kick-off conference will take place in the first week of April 2022.
- Remote Programme: From April – October 2022, the Young Founders will receive six months of support including a personal mentor, monthly peer mentoring sessions, monthly expert workshops and networking opportunities with corporates and investors.
- Berlin Conference: The ten best performing Young Founders will be invited to a five-day conference in December 2022. During this conference, the founders will have the opportunity to pitch in front of investors, participate in workshops, join networking events and get insights into the German start-up scene.
Benefits
- Mentoring: A unique experience with a successful entrepreneur or investor, who becomes your sparring partner.
- Peer Learning: Exchanges with other successful young founders of the cohort to share knowledge and support each other.
- Expert Sessions: In-depth sessions on relevant topics with high-class experts.
- Buddy Programme: Access to new business opportunities by being connected to alumni of the programme.
- Berlin Conference: Exposure to the Berlin Startup Ecosystem through a fully funded one-week conference together with the other founders for the top 10 participants.
Eligibility
They are looking for entrepreneurs with high potential for impact and growth to become leaders of a sustainable future, with the following criteria:
- You are a citizen or resident of a developing or emerging country.
- You have recently (in the last five years) started a for-profit company focused on developing or emerging markets.
- Your company possesses a scalable business model that has ideally generated revenue or secured a first round of external funding.
- You or your business possesses disruptive qualities that can increase the quality, impact or inclusiveness of the industry.
- You possess a good working knowledge of English.
- You are available to attend the digital kick-off conference and can make time to participate in programme activities for the six months.
Application
The following application will provide our Programme Team with an understanding of your startup and profile. Please have the following key elements ready:
- Your startup pitch deck
- Basic financial information (i.e. revenues, funding)
- Your LinkedIn profile and/or CV
With these on hand, the application will take approximately 20 minutes. Only complete applications will be reviewed.
Application deadline: Sunday, March 13 at 11:59 CEST. Interviews with shortlisted candidates: March 21-25, 2022
For more information, visit Westerwelle Foundation.
