About the program:
In 2011, African Leadership Academy and Mastercard Foundation partnered to create the Anzisha Prize. The mission was clear. Support young people to choose entrepreneurship through a fellowship, celebrate their stories and watch how they transform their communities through scaling job generative businesses. With over a decade of experience working with young people, the value of championing entrepreneurship has been seen as a viable career choice and encouraging young people to try their hand at entrepreneurship at an early age.
Through the three-year fellowship program, young business owners have the opportunity to scale their businesses and gain business acumen through expert coaches. Their priority is to seek to use the various prizes, programs, resources and the theory of change to catalyse not only the belief in very young entrepreneurs but the creation of an ecosystem (parents, educators, policymakers and investors) that supports entrepreneurship as a viable career choice.
he Anzisha Prize is a multi-year fellowship program that supports the growth of young entrepreneurs and recognises and incentivises their achievements. Our model –The Anzisha Methodology – equips young people with the tools and resources needed to run successful businesses. Through an individual and collective entrepreneurial development journey, the fellowship focus on key areas of support:
- Business Development
- Support enterprises to codify and automate key operations
- Businesses will be supported to build a purposeful team to accelerate growth
- Personal Leadership
- We offer mental and emotional well-being sessions
- Develop managerial skills to run a successful team
- Deliver skills training workshops to lead fellows to their goals
Eligibility criteria:
- Applicants must be between 15 and 22 years old with an ID document or Passport to present as evidence. Anyone born before 1 September 2002 or after 31 August 2009, will not be considered.
- Applicants must be a national of an African country with a business based in Africa for African customers/beneficiaries.
- The Anzisha Prize isn’t awarded for great ideas or business plans – you must have already started, and be able to prove it! Get started now and ensure you have tangible results to share before applications open.
- Individuals who apply must be one of the founding members of a business (for example, 2 or 3 co-founders who started up the project together).
Judging criteria:
To be selected as one of our Anzisha ventures, your business or project will be judged on the following 5 criteria:
- Is your venture established with customers and beneficiaries and are you offering value to them?
- Are you, the founder, who is leading and managing your venture?
- Is your venture demonstrating some impact already?
- Whether your venture is a for-profit business or cause-based, does it already earn revenue or already impacting beneficiaries? Is there potential to increase revenues or beneficiary reach with support from Anzisha?
- Has your venture created jobs and is there potential to create more high quality jobs?
To be selected as one of our Anzisha Fellows, you must demonstrate two important qualities:
- You are the leader of your venture and you drive both venture strategy and operations.
- You spend at least 20 hours a week (or more) on your business and plan to continue to do so after selection.
Benefits:
Through their programmatic approach of ensuring that each business can eventually function without requiring the entrepreneur to be actively involved in all daily operations. Through this approach, the program is designed to recognize big and small progress achieved within the fellowship. Entrepreneurs will be expected to meet pre-determined milestones to unlock different categories of incentives that include:
- Cash stipends
Fellows will receive cash stipends at different intervals during the duration of the fellowship and will be required to meet agreed upon milestones as a pre-condition to qualify for the cash stipend.
Explore more opportunities like this
- Entrepreneur Shadow Program
An entrepreneur will have the chance to shadow a business in their country or region they have identified as exceptional and want to learn from and emulate.
- Service Provider Program
Fellows will have the opportunity to apply for a professional individual with specialized technical skillsets to work in the business to deliver a technical solution for a specified period of time.
- Educational Courses
Learning never stops. Entrepreneurs can apply for short courses that will enhance their leadership and business development skills.
- Finance Readiness
Access to a financial analyst to provide technical support for the preparation of relevant documentation required for engaging prospective investors. A debt funding tool to match financing already secured from an external investor
- Young Entrepreneurs Fund
Those selected as Anzisha Prize fellows will become members of an active and dynamic community of changemakers across Africa who are exploring how to drive, scale, and make positive and lasting change in their communities through entrepreneurship.
Prizes:
- Short term educational opportunities, internships and specialised technical expert consultations for eligible fellows in Year 2.
- Job Creation Prize – awarded to the entrepreneur in Year 2 who has created the most job opportunities since joining the fellowship.
- Revenue Growth Prize – awarded to the entrepreneur in Year 2 with the highest business revenue growth since joining the fellowship.
- Storytelling Prize – awarded to the entrepreneur in Year 2 who has creatively communicated and distributed their entrepreneurship story through written, oral and visual storytelling since joining the fellowship.
- Systems of Delivery Prize – awarded to the entrepreneur in Year 2 who has effectively used systems and processes learned in the program to advance their business model since joining the fellowship.
Application deadline:
November 8, 2024.
Application process:
Interested and eligible applicants should submit their applications using the link below:
We wish you all the best in your application process.
See previous scholarship winners from our group:
