Lagos, Nigeria – April, 2016.
Foremost African financial institution, Guaranty Trust
Bank plc, has partnered African-focused entrepreneurship accelerator, She Leads
Africa (SLA) and the Work in Progress! Alliance (Oxfam and VC4Africa) to launch
the She Leads Africa Accelerator, a 3 month program designed to identify,
support and fund the next generation of Nigeria’s brightest female
entrepreneurs.
The Entrepreneur Showcase is the flagship program of
She Leads Africa, geared towards shining
a spotlight on women who are driving Africa's growth through leadership, commerce and
innovation. The event presents a veritable platform
for young female entrepreneurs looking to
grow their businesses across Africa. In this year’s
edition, participants in the competition will
compete for US$15,000 in cash prizes, media features in international news outlets, and
exclusive meetings with top investors. Companies that will be considered eligible must have
launched their product or service, been in operation
for less than 3 years and received less than
$50,000 USD in funding as at the date of the event.
The company must also have a minimum of
one woman on their board between the ages of 18-35
years
he Entrepreneur Showcase is the flagship program of
She Leads Africa, geared towards shining
a
spotlight on women
who are driving
Africa's growth through
leadership, commerce and
innovation. The event presents a veritable platform
for young female entrepreneurs looking to
grow their businesses across Africa. In this year’s
edition, participants in the competition will
compete
for US$15,000 in
cash prizes, media
features in international news
outlets, and
exclusive meetings with top investors.
Companies that will be considered
eligible must have
launched their product or service, been in operation
for less than 3 years and received less than
$50,000 USD in funding as at the date of the event.
The company must also have a minimum of
one woman on their board between the ages of 18-35
years
The initiative which is a new inclusion to the bouquet of mentorship
sessions created by She Leads Africa, is geared towards shining a light on
women who are driving Africa's growth through leadership, commerce and
innovation. The event presents a veritable platform for young female
entrepreneurs to acquire basic business skills and grow their businesses. In
this year’s edition, participants will compete for N2,000,000 in cash prizes,
media features in international news outlets, access to online resources and
exclusive meetings with top investors.
The 3 month SLA Accelerator will feature a 1-week residency program for
budding entrepreneurs to acquire basic business skills with a key focus on
growth, marketing and distribution. Upon completing the residency program, the
participants will undergo a 3-week practical session to enable them implement
their skills. The climax of the event will be a Demo Day where participants can
pitch to domestic and international investors for a N2,000,000 cash prize.
For the 3rd year running, GTBank has continued in its support for SMEs
and empowerment of budding entrepreneurs such as Charae Robinson, CEO of
Tastemakers Africa and Kasope Oladipo-Ajayi, CEO of OmoAlata Foods who emerged
respective winners of the 2014 and 2015 editions of the She Leads Africa pitch.
According to Mr. Yasmin Belo-Osagie, co-founder of
SLA, "We are delighted to be working with international partners such as
GTBank and the Work in Progress! Alliance team in this year’s edition. GTBank
has remained our lead sponsor for the last 2 years and we are excited to extend
this partnership for a 3rd year.” He further stated that; “GTBank’s continued
support for SLA as well as their innovative platforms, such as SME MarketHub, attests
to their commitment to support SMEs in Nigeria.”
Speaking at the launch of the event, Mr. Segun Agbaje, the Managing
Director/CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank plc said; “The economic growth and
development of our continent is largely dependent on how much we empower our
women and invest in Small and Medium Enterprises. It is for this reason that we
have created the SME MarketHub platform to fulfil the twin objective of
facilitating the growth of small businesses and creating a unique platform for
female entrepreneurs to thrive.”
For more information
, visit : http://sheleadsafrica.org/index.php/accelerator/
Guaranty Trust Bank plc is one of
the few Nigerian financial institutions that have maintained a defined
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy since its inception in 1990. The
Bank actively supports numerous programmes across Africa that significantly
impacts education and youth development, healthcare, community development,
arts and environment.
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