When the $250,000 grants from the United States African Development Foundation (USADF) were announced, many received them with excitement and were eager to take advantage of the programme in order to take their business to the next level.
They followed the link to the programme and application page. Some applicants needed support to complete the application. Unfortunately, the time frame was too short.
The USADF seems to have realised this in time and has decided to extend the application period to give business owners enough time to fill out and send in their forms.
I am happy to inform you that the programmes that were initially fixed to close on the 30th of September have been extended to the 15th of October.
So what is this USADF programme about, and why is it important that you take advantage of this programme?
The USADF Accelerate Africa Entrepreneurship Challenge
Successful applicants will get a free grant of between $50,000 and $250,000 to support and scale their businesses up.
Assume you submit your application and are able to justify the $250,000 grant: $250,000 multiplied by N420 (using the CBN official rate) equals N105,000,000. Imagine if the money was paid into the applicant’s domiciliary account and you sold it to the bureau de change at the current market rate of N720. That would be 250,000 x 720 = N180,000,000.
That is a whole lot of money, and some entrepreneurs don’t even need that much to skyrocket. The $50,000 is more than enough for them.
Being among the awardees is not that easy. You need to submit a compelling proposal that shows that you understand the problem as well as the solution. Also, show that you have the capacity to deliver and that you understand the market and the USADF objective for the programme.
USADF is excited to request proposals for the USADF Accelerate Africa Entrepreneurship Challenge. Proposals are invited from eligible African youth and women-led enterprises. Selected enterprises will receive funding in the form of grant capital of up to $250,000. To be considered for the Challenge.
What are the requirement?
Applicants must be 100% African-owned and -managed private companies registered and operating conteries below
Benin, Burkina Faso,Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
