Applications are open for the YY Ventures/Yunus Centre East Africa Social Business Ecosystem Builders Program 2023. The East Africa Social Business Ecosystem Builders program, initiated by YY Ventures and Yunus Centre, aims to increase the capacity of the existing ecosystem builders in East Africa by giving them access to new knowledge, technical skills and network.

The programme will support ten (10) social business support organisations by enrolling them in a two-month-long learning journey. Through this programme, two young professionals from each selected organisation (a total of 20 participants) will attend five workshops, design their own social business support programmes with experts’ coaching and guidance, and they can apply for a matching fund of up to EUR 25,000 to implement their programme activities.

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Benefits from Business Ecosystem Builders Program

The selected participants will:

• Receive world-class training from a network of experts to learn the technical know-how to design and implement social business support programmes.
• Have access to funding support of up to EUR 25,000 to implement their proposed ideas.
• Have access to a global network of social business experts and other regional ecosystem builders, including microfinance institutions, social business funds, Yunus Social Business Centres and incubators/accelerators.

Eligibility for Business Ecosystem Builders Program

• Only an organisation can apply; therefore, no individual application will be eligible for the learning journey workshops and later matching fund;
• Local business support organisations, such as incubators/accelerators, co-working spaces, microfinance institutions, Universities, and Yunus Social Business Centre (YSBC), are eligible to apply;
• Applicant organisations must be based in one of the four East African regions – Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda;
• Each organisation should nominate at least two early-stage professionals (one male and one female) who are aged between 18 to 35 years;
• Nominated early-stage professionals should be passionate about designing and implementing incubation programs and innovation challenges for young people within their communities; and
• Participants should commit at least 5 hours per week for two months of the Learning Journey Workshop series and submit an activity plan to improve the social business ecosystem in their country/region.

Expectations for Business Ecosystem Builders Program

Workshop and webinars:

• Five 3-hour long workshops will be held over two months (March to April, 2023) via Zoom.
• The five workshops are split into three modules, each specifically designed to give hands-on knowledge and experience to the workshop participants.
• Each workshop will help participants to:
  • Firstly, Understand local realities and ecosystems and how to engage supporters and bring programme resources.
  • Mobilise resources efficiently and design and manage social business support programmes, e.g. competitions, innovation challenges, incubator or accelerator programmes.
  • Lastly, Measure and manage the impact of social business support programmes.

Application of Business Ecosystem Builders Program

• Each organisation can nominate two early-stage professionals from their organisations – who are already involved and engaged with the social business ecosystem or want to design, implement and manage social business support programmes.
• They will have to submit their application by completing an online application form along with the CVs of the two early-stage professionals. An assessment team will review the applications and select the top 10 organisations for the learning journey.

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Lastly, It is important to visit the official website link found below to access the application form.

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