SMME NEWS - OCTOBER 2018 ISSUE

10 smme news the heartbeat of small enterprises
LAND OF OPPORTUNITIES
The lifetime chance to become
an Accountapreneur
The applications for the Cohort Civic Innovators 2019 are
now officially open. The accountability lab programme is
for young society leaders, it aims to build their effect tools
for accountability, participation and also social impact. The
selected “ accountapreneurs’ will go through a one year
program with support for their initiatives and ideas.
The program will accelerate ideas; provide mentorship,
fundraising, management support and also the access
to a global network of leading donors, foundations and
institutions.
Applicants Requirements:
Be under the age of 35 at the time of the
application.
Be willing and able to commit to at least 3 days of
training every 3 months in the capital city of the applicant’s
country.
Be a based in either Liberia, Mali, Pakistan or Nepal.
Be committed to working on their work ideas for at least
20 hours a week until it grows to the point where it is a full
time commitment.
Be energetic and willing to help build an emerging global
eco-system for accountability.
The applications are open until 21 October 2018 at
midnight. For more information info@accountabilitylab.org
The Commonwealth Secretary General’s
Innovation for Sustainable Development
Awards
The awards celebrate outstanding innovators and
innovations which are helping commonwealth countries
along with their people to achieve Sustainable
Development Goals ( SDG’s) and also increase their values
in the Commonwealth Charter. The Commonwealth Charter
commits commonwealth countries to the development of
democratic societies and the promotion of prosperity and
peace.
Aims of the Awards:
To recognise innovations that are boasting sustainable
development in commonwealth countries while working in hand
with the Common Wealth Charter and the SDGs.
To inspire the next generation of commonwealth innovators.
To put in the spotlight the innovative potential across
commonwealth.
The award –winning innovations must conform to the core values
and principles of the Commonwealth Charter. Three award
winners will be selected under five categories which are:
People
Prosperity
Peace
Planet
Partnership
The winners will be decided based upon the potential of their
innovations to advance one or preferably more 17 SDG’s in
commonwealth countries.
The awards will be decided on the factors of:
Level of impact to demonstrate the potential of innovation.
Real fresh ways to approach problem-solving.
The quality of the achievement.
The potential impact of innovation on achievement of SDGs in
commonwealth countries.
The entry criteria - Entrants must be:
commonwealth citizens- female and young commonwealth
innovators.
government ministries, department or public sector agencies in
commonwealth countries.
private sector enterprises based in any commonwealth country.
social or voluntary sector enterprise based in any common
wealth country.
Nominees must have engaged in developing their innovations
for more than 12 months.
Award winners must agree to take part in commonwealth
supported activities.
Each nominee is liberated to enter submissions of up two of the
five categories. The nomination process will only be done on the
online platform. The deadline for the nominations is 31 December
2018.
Techstars Music Accelerator
Techs tars Music Accelerator
Techstars is a music accelerator which is led and ran by the
most leading companies from the global music business
from Warner Music Group, Sony, Silva Entertainment,
QPrime Management, Silva Artist Management, Royalty
Exchange, Avex Inc, RecoChoku and Concord Music.
They invest $120 k into 10 of the best music-related
start-ups from around the world. While also providing office
space in LA and access to mentors and investors from the
global music business industry.
Techstars music start-ups are mentored by more than 100
of the top music and technology executives and investors
in the world. They make entrepreneurship accessible by
giving guidance, marketing, M&A opportunities, capital and
customer acquisition. The Techstars Music team includes
Jen Hall (Director, Music), Bob Moczydlowsky (Managing
Director, Music) and Samantha Russo 9 Program Manager,
Music).
The applications are now open, the application deadline is
14 October 2018, the programme kick starts on
04 February 2019 and the demo day is on the 2019.
Total Startupper Challenge
The Startupper of the year is by Total Challenge. It aims to
encourage social entrepreneurship and to also help under
35-year-olds to develop their entrepreneurial skills.
The challenge supports projects that will help to address
problems affecting communities in countries. From
reducing child mortality, improving public health, improving
road safety, building eco-friendly houses, proving
educational opportunities, possibly anything that can
improve lives.
The previous challenges have been a success, it begun in
2015-2016 by involving 34 African countries. The 2018-
2019 challenge has been extended to 55 countries around
the world. Three winners from each country will receive
comprehensive publicity, coaching and financial support.
Among the three winners from each country, grand winners
will be then selected by each region and the winners will be
offered additional support.
In this year’s challenge a Top female Entrepreneur category
has been introduced and included. During the previous
challenges women only made 25% of the winners and
they only accumulated only 13% as part of the applicants.
With these year’s special award the aim is in hope to give
women entrepreneurs extra encouragement to take part in
the challenge.
Selection Criteria:
• The business owner must not be older than 35 years old.
• The participant must be a citizen of the country where he/
she participates.
• The project can be an idea or a start-up created within
the last two years.
• The project should aim to offer a practical way of
improving and addressing safety, accessibility, education
and other issues affecting the local communities.
• The project can be something that can improve existing
technology, service or product.
• The projects should have the potential to benefit a
broader public sphere.
issue no. 23
OCTOBER 2018