Call for Applications: Africa Youth SDG Innovation Award

Deadline: 11-Jun-23

Are you a young African entrepreneur who has developed an innovative solution with a demonstrated positive impact on the achievement of the SDGs on the continent? If yes, then apply now for the Africa Youth SDG Innovation Award.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), through its Subregional office for Southern Africa (SRO-SA), is partnering with the African Youth SDG Summit and AfriLabs to showcase the innovation potential of young African entrepreneurs.

The award aims to recognize and reward outstanding young entrepreneurial efforts, that have successfully developed an innovation to resolve a specific development problem for firms, governments, households and communities and with an impact on the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Benefits

• The 6 winners will be invited to present their innovation at the African Youth SDG Summit that will be held in Lusaka, Zambia in August 2023. All costs in relation to the travel will be borne by ECA.
• The winners will also be invited to participate in person in one training on innovation that ECA SROSA will organize for small and medium-sized enterprises during 2023-2024. Costs of in-person participation will be borne by ECA.
• ECA SRO-SA will also sponsor the costs of their travel and participation to the Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town, South Africa, November 14-16, 2023.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Africa Youth SDG innovation Award is open to:
  • any individual of African nationality who was between the age of 18 to 35 as at 31st December 2022
  • who has designed an innovative product or designed an innovative process to resolve a specific development problem for society, and with a demonstrated impact on the achievement of the SDGs. The innovation may have been commercialized or is about to eb commercialized.
  • The innovative product or innovative process must be original and must have been developed no earlier than 31st December 2016.

For more information, visit UNECA.