RevUp Women’s Initiative – Call for Implementing Hubs

RevUp Women Initiative is an enterprise development programme for early-stage women-led startups in Africa. It  is designed to accelerate women led businesses into profitable & sustainable ventures that can stimulate the creation of jobs on the continent. The initiative is aimed at fostering gender equality, poverty eradication, and inclusive economic growth through enterprise development training, mentorship, peer to peer learning and providing access to finance. 

This cohort is funded by The Visa Foundation.

AfriLabs is calling on hubs within the AfriLabs network to apply to implement this cohort of the initiative. In this cohort, 10 implementing hubs, two(2) in each of the pilot countries will be selected via a competitive application and screening process targeting hubs that have incubated at least 1 complete cohort of women-led businesses and have operated for at least 6 months, following AfriLabs network membership criteria. 

Roles of Implementing Hubs in the initiative

• Select 50 participating women led businesses
• Conduct a detailed needs assessment on the select  businesses
• Train and mentor the women
• Create a peer to peer support network within the businesses
• Work with the other selected hub in the country to create a country women mentoring network.

Eligibility Criteria

The applications are open to innovation hubs within the AfriLabs network that provide facilities to nurture women-led businesses and entrepreneurs in Africa. Innovation hubs must meet the following criteria before applying;

• Be located in any of these cities
  • Nigeria –  Lagos, Abuja
  • South Africa –  Johannesburg, Pretoria
  • Cameroon – Douala, Yaounde
  • Kenya –  Nairobi, Kisumu
  • Democratic Republic of Congo-  Kinshasa, Lubumbashi
• Have a physical space
• Maintain a focus on at least two or more of the following: entrepreneurship, innovation or technology
• Must have verifiable evidence of building women led startups and MSMEs from incubation to maturity

Note: 

• Maximum number of hubs to be selected is 10 (1 per city)

Application Guidelines

Eligible applicants should submit their applications by filling the form 

Selection Criteria

Implementing hubs will be selected based on the following criteria;

• Proof that hub runs programs to support women led businesses and female innovators/entrepreneurs across different sectors 
• Budget

Application Timeline

Application Opens:  27th February 2023

Application Closes: 17th March 2023

Applicants will be notified of Application Status (Declinations will be emailed)