Competition

The Youth Adaptation Solutions (YouthADAPT) Challenge 2023

Deadline: 5th of November, 2023

The African Development Bank Group and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) are working together to undertake the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP), a strategic partnership program aiming at raising $25 billion to scale up and accelerate climate change adaptation measures across Africa.

YouthAdapt: Empowering Youth for Entrepreneurship and Job Creation in Climate Adaptation and Resilience is one of the program’s four flagships. AAAP is scaling up young ideas for climate change through the Africa young Adaptation #YouthADAPT Challenge as part of the YouthADAPT initiative.

This cohort specifically targets female-owned businesses who are developing Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technology and ideas for climate adaptation action in Africa while also tackling gender inequality in their solutions.

Examples of 4IR technologies include artificial intelligence, big data analytics, virtual reality, robotics, the Internet of Things, quantum computing technologies, additive manufacturing blockchains, and fifth-generation wireless.

These should be solutions being implemented in real-life, on-the-ground climate situations in Africa.  This call for applications is supported by funds from the Africa Climate Change Fund (ACCF), hosted by the African Development Bank.

Eligibility:

  • Age: The entrepreneur must be between the ages of 18 and 35.
  • Citizenship of the founder: The founder must be of African nationality, or the founder must be playing an active role in the operations of the enterprise.
  • Geography and legal registration of the company: The business must be legally registered in Africa.
  • Profitability: The business must have generated profits for the last two years.
  • Impact/climate adaptation: The business must demonstrate a direct impact on climate adaptation and resilience.
  • Gender Only female-owned enterprises are eligible; 51% of shareholding should be female.
  • Industry must be within the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies.

Benefits:

Selected female applicants stand to benefit from:

  • Grants of up to USD 100,000 per enterprise to support their business growth plans
  • Participate in a 1-year accelerator program designed to empower the selected young entrepreneurs and their teams with tailored business development skills, mentorship, training, and resources to scale up climate adaptation innovations and boost the creation of green jobs.
  • Expanding partnership, knowledge sharing, exchange, and learning through a network of youth entrepreneurs in Africa.
  • Tailored business development services to elevate your climate solutions and generate green jobs
  • Join the YouthADAPT Alumni Network

The selected female youth-owned enterprises will be equipped with tailored business development skills, mentorship, training, and resources to scale up climate adaptation innovations and boost the creation of green jobs.

This support will help the enterprises build their institutional capacity, position themselves to effectively utilize the grants offered, mobilize additional private capital, scale up climate adaptation action at the grassroots level, and create employment opportunities across Africa. They will also access training workshops tailored to provide practical skills in entrepreneurship and climate adaptation mainstreaming.

Additional support will be provided to these youth entrepreneurs through professional mentorship to enable them to execute their business growth plans, create jobs, and support the Africa continental effort towards climate resilience.

Click here to apply 

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