SAIS Female Founder Award 2025: Scaling Digital Agriculture Innovations Through Start-ups (Up to 30,000€ in-kind Support)

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Applications are open for SAIS Female Founder Award 2025. They are calling for exceptional female leaders in Africa with an innovative AgTech, FoodTech or ClimateTech business to apply for the SAIS Female Founder Award 2025! The award recognizes visionaries who have achieved success in their fields, create social impact, and encourage other women to start or grow their own businesses.

The SAIS Female Founder Award is an initiative by “Scaling digital Agriculture Innovations through Start-ups” (SAIS), a project implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The SAIS vision is to transform the food systems by being the leading community for tech ventures in emerging markets. The start-ups we support must offer solutions that lead to income growth, improved nutrition or adaptation to climate change. With the SAIS Female Founder Award, our aim is to strengthen the visibility of female-led start-ups and to promote a more equitable and dynamic landscape for female founders to become the next ‘gazelles’ and succeed in building a unicorn in Africa.

SAIS Female Founder Award Benefits

The award recognizes female founders from Africa with unique businesses that have a strong digital component and embrace social impact. We honour, support and celebrate your ambition by offering unique opportunities for visibility and further development of your business.

The three winners will win in-kind support worth up to 30,000€ for the first place, up to 15,000€ for the second place, and up to 7,000€ for the third place. This in-kind support can be vouchers and various tailored services to best boost their business, including:
Vouchers for special expenses (e.g. online training, software licenses, and other services.)

Services:

Personalized coaching sessions with local and international experts based on individual needs. For example: marketing, investor relations and pitching to further increase visibility.
Facilitation of meaningful connections for your business development and potential scaling vision by providing local ecosystem integration.
Trip to Nairobi and access to the AfricArena Summit in September, including flights in economy class, accommodation and tickets.
Introduction and involvement to SAIS Female Leader Circle Community where women in leadership roles in the start-up ecosystem benefit from inputs sessions with experts from different areas and peer-to-peer exchange sessions. These monthly meetings serve as a platform for insightful discussions, networking opportunities, and skill development tailored to the unique challenges faced by women in the entrepreneurial realm.
SAIS Female Founder Award seal for your website to recognize your business.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for the SAIS Female Founder Award, you must meet the following conditions:

Legal form
- Your business is registered and operates on the African continent.
- Your business has an official certificate of registration.
Founder
- You are an African female who (co)founded and runs a start-up / growth stage business.
- You should have technical experience in your area of operation.
Team
- At least three people who work full-time for the start-up (including yourself as a founder).
Digital product/ service
- Your product/service is digital or has a strong digital component.
- Your product is offering an impactful solution in the AgTech, FoodTech or ClimateTech sectors in Africa.
Market access and traction
- Your company has been registered at least 2 years before submitting the application.
- Your start-up must have clear evidence of traction (customer base, revenue).
Business model
- You have a unique value proposition in the market(s) where you operate.
- Your start-up should have an understandable and convincing business model (clear problem statement and defined customer segment).
Impact
- You promote female visionary leadership, support other female leaders and contribute to women’s economic empowerment.
- You are fostering a culture that values diversity.
- Your work has a positive impact on solving an important problem in industry.
- You contribute to start-up ecosystem development.