Academy For Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) Kenya

The Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE)

The Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) is an award-winning training and coaching platform specifically designed for women microbusiness owners. It gives enterprising women the knowledge, networks, and access they need to launch and scale successful businesses. By promoting women’s economic opportunities and ensuring that women have the capabilities and resources needed to participate in the economy, the AWE program directly supports the U.S. National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality.

AWE uses a hybrid model that combines the online platform Dream Builder (developed through a partnership between Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management and global copper mining company Freeport-McMoRan) with in-class mentoring and facilitation. Through AWE, participants learn core business skills and then get together as a class to discuss the material with experienced implementers, local mentors, and U.S. Exchange alumni. Partnerships with local NGOs, universities, and chambers of commerce offer women the opportunity to amplify their newly learned business skills and network with other businesspeople through speed mentoring, pitch competitions, and entrepreneurship fairs.

A 2021 evaluation of the program showed that 74 percent of women who complete the AWE program increase their business earnings, and 29 percent hire more staff. By giving women the tools and confidence they need, the AWE program is generating income and creating jobs in women-led businesses, driving local prosperity in more than 80 countries worldwide.

In Kenya, the AWE program is equipping women with the practical skills needed to create sustainable businesses. It seeks to promote economic prosperity by creating opportunities for women with brilliant ideas to become successful entrepreneurs. The main sponsors of AWE Kenya are the State Department, ECA at State, and US Embassy Kenya, which will be implemented by Ushindi Empowerment in 2022. The project is currently ongoing, and thus far Kenya has trained over 600 women by 2024, with the Ushindi Empowerment Group implementing three of these cohorts in 2022. The counties covered include Nairobi, Machakos, Malindi, Kisumu, Nakuru, Lamu, and Mombasa.

Countries

10 +

Women Impacted

10000

Call For Application

Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE Kenya 2024) - Cohort 6. Scale Your Business Program

The U.S. Embassy Nairobi in partnership with Ushindi Empowerment Group, invites women entrepreneurs from Nairobi with at least 3 years’ experience seeking to scale their businesses or explore international trade to apply for the program. The objective is to provide business management training to Nairobi-based female entrepreneurs ready to scale their businesses. This cohort is supported by the UPS Foundation.

The Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) established the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) in 2019. AWE provides women entrepreneurs with the skills, resources, and networks needed to start and scale successful businesses. So far, AWE is in over 100+ countries, having reached over 25,000 women entrepreneurs’ globally.

Ushindi Empowerment Group is a community-based organization dedicated to transforming lives by empowering communities and marginalized groups. We do this by partnering with and supporting grassroots leaders, women, and youth-led organizations in order to build their capacity to meet some of their communities’ most complex challenges.

Who can participate?

Kenyan women entrepreneurs, aged 25 to 45, who reside in Nairobi.
Seeking to grow their business and have at least 2–3 years of entrepreneurial experience.
Commitment to scale their business or explore international trade.
Commit to actively participate in all program components and impact assessments.
Have basic computer skills and access to the internet.
Own and/or lead a business with demonstrated potential for growth.
Must be able to commit on average five hours per week to AWE both physically and virtually as required by the program.
Have a good understanding of both written and spoken English.

Women who hold elected or appointed government positions are not eligible for this program. (AWE Alumni are eligible to apply.)

Program Benefits

The AWE Program will enable you to: –

Gain access to the online business training platform –Dream builder
Specialized business management training and a growth plan for your business training
A dedicated one-on-one mentor to support you in your business growth planning process
Gain exposure to essential business resources and tools to grow and scale your business
Network and learn from successful and established business leaders and mentors
Access to a community of female entrepreneurs with opportunities for peer-to-peer inspiration and learning
The opportunity to pitch your business to a prominent jury of seasoned entrepreneurs and industry leaders
The chance to win seed funding to launch or consolidate your business.
Opportunity to be part of the U.S. Exchange AWE Alumni network and access to opportunities

Activities

The AWE training will take place over a period of 3 months of guided formal training through the Dream Builder 100 million learners’ platform and 3 months of mentorship, business linkages culminating in a graduation, business planning competition, and exhibition to allow the participants to celebrate their hard work. The participants will also gain access to seed capital (specifically, the winners of the pitching competition) as well as access to key strategic partners.

Participants will increase their business knowledge and understanding of what it takes to scale their businesses. They will also have safe spaces to dialogue on issues affecting them and their businesses and linkages to support mechanisms. Further, the primary beneficiaries will be trained on pitching their businesses to access the opportunities. We shall have a team of qualified program staff, facilitators and mentors to support the learning agenda all through the program.

Calendar Of Events

Activity	Date
1. Application Deadline	10th June 2024
2. Announcement of Selected Participants	14th June
3.Dream Builder 100 Million Learners Course (Physical and Online series & Networking Sessions)	June 19th –September 17th
4. Mentoring Sessions Kick Off	September 5th -November 30th
5. Business Plan Competition	September 17th to September 20th 2024
6. Pitch Competition & Selection of Final awardees	October
7. Graduation, Pitch Awardees & Networking Event	October
8. Monitoring of mentees and Reporting	November-December 30^th2024
*Please note that the timeline may be subject to change under certain circumstances.

Selection Process

All applications will be assessed against eligibility criteria. Only applicants who qualify will be informed about the results of the selection process.

You can apply to AWE KENYA 2024-COHORT 6 by filling out this online application form, filling out some basic data, and, at the end attaching your brief bio. Application deadline: June 10th, 2024, 5pm local time.

For additional information, please feel free to contact us at: info@ushindiempowerment.org or 0717 869 391.

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