About the African Innovators Program

 

African Innovators

The Connecticut Institute for Social Entrepreneurship African Innovators program aims to support entrepreneurial startup and scale-up stage businesses developing solutions that expands economic opportunities for the displaced people, refugees and host communities in African Great Lakes region that comprises of countries around the African Great Lakes, and these include Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania through business development services.
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Conflicts in the Great Lakes are dynamic and cause a high level of displacement within and across every national border in the region, which now hosts over one million refugees, mainly from Burundi, the DRC, Rwanda, Central Africa Republic and South Soudan. The DRC and Tanzania host the largest refugee caseloads in the Great Lakes ‘region with more than half a million refugees in the DRC and over 230,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Tanzania. In additional, around 4.5 million people are internally displaced in the DRC-the highest caseload of IDPs in Africa-while over 400,000 Congolese have sought refuge in neighboring countries. Approximately. 180,000 people are internally displaced in Burundi.
Twenty Finalists will be invited to participate in our entrepreneurship-accelerated program at the CISE Campus in Connecticut and pitch their innovations before investors and global community during the United Nations General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York where a panel of jury will select five winners to receive grants of up to 10,000 USD and a year-long mentorship with CISE’s experts.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria

Applicant must be at least 21 years old as of March 5, 2021

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Applicant must be a citizen of African country and must live and work in African County that is located in Great Lakes region.

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Must be a founder of a startup/business or hold a leadership or decision-making position such as CEO, President, etc. at the moment of application.

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Demonstrate economic and social ties with the country where they live and be able to obtain the US visitor visa.

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Applications Received
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Countries represented
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Finalists
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Fellows Selected

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How to apply

Candidates must contact the African Innovators Regional directors or our Accredited International Agent in their respective countries to receive application package or send an email to cise@connecticut.insitute to receive applications or ask questions with the “African Innovators Program” in the subject line.