Digital ChangeMakers for Women Entrepreneurs Incubation 2025 (up to €10000)

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Applications are open for Digital ChangeMakers for Women Entrepreneurs Incubation 2025. Over 90% of the working population in Ghana is employed in the informal sector, with about 55% being women. Additionally, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) contribute 70% to the GDP. The digital innovation ecosystem is providing solutions to numerous problems, greatly enhancing economic growth. However, peri-urban (outskirts of cities) micro-enterprises face challenges in fully adopting these services for their growth. There’s also a risk that digitalization might widen disparities between rural and urban areas, particularly affecting informal women-led MSMEs.

Digital ChangeMakers for Women Entrepreneurs Incubation Objective

This project aims to equip women-led micro-enterprises with tailored digital solutions, enabling them to adopt innovative products that meet their needs and fosters growth and innovation. This objective should be reached through a process of ideation and incubation of user-centered innovative ideas and solutions targeted at addressing economic growth and needs of women micro-entrepreneurs in the targeted regions (Ashanti, Eastern, Northern, North-East, Upper East and Upper West). We are seeking to select individual innovators and teams that will be supported through the incubation program to enable them develop their ideas into working protoypes.

Benefits

Shortlisted finalists will then be advanced to the incubation phase and will be each paired with a hub in their region to receive further support including mentorship, software engineering, UI/UX design, etc. The incubation phase is expected to take place between August to December 2025.
Participants with advanced prototypes and strong participation during the incubation phase will stand the chance to participate in the final pitching event which will take place early 2026 to stand the chance to win prizes and additional support.
The top 3 teams will have a chance to win a share of 10,000 Euros worth of prizes to further work on their prototypes.

Eligibility Criteria for Digital ChangeMakers for Women Entrepreneurs Incubation

This opportunity is open to early-stage innovators, startups, and teams based in and operating in the regions of focus (Ashanti, Eastern, North-East, Northern, Upper East and Upper West).

The minimum age requirement for an individual is 18 years old. Women and persons with disabilities are highly encouraged to apply.

Do note that existing staff of GIZ, selected intermediaries, and GFA are not qualified for this opportunity.

Program Details

Selected Participants will be invited to attend the 2-day Ideation Workshops in June. Participants based in the Northern, North-East, Upper East and Upper West regions will be invited to participate in the Northern Zone workshop while participants based in the Ashanti and Eastern regions will participate in the Ashanti Zone workshop.

Participants will be given 2-3 weeks to further refine their ideas after the ideation workshop. They will then submit their updated proposals to be reviewed for selection to advance to the incubation phase.

Shortlisted finalists will then be advanced to the incubation phase and will each be paired with a hub in their region to receive further support including mentorship, software engineering, UI/UX design, etc. The incubation phase is expected to take place between August to December 2025.

Participants with advanced prototypes and strong participation during the incubation phase will stand the chance to participate in the final pitching event which will take place early 2026 to stand the chance to win prizes and additional support.