Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE)

A. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The U.S. Embassy Kigali Public Diplomacy Section of the U.S. Department of State announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to organize and implement the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs Program, which will include facilitating a course on Global Entrepreneurship Sustainable Business and planning and hosting a regional AWE conference. Please follow all instructions below. Program Objectives: The first program element is to facilitate the traditional DreamBuilder program, which brings together a cohort of 30 women who meet online and in-person to learn core business skills such as strategic planning, marketing, and finance, then discuss the material with local facilitators, business leaders, and U.S. exchange alumni mentors. The DreamBuilder program should run for a period of six months, one facilitation session per week for 13 weeks, followed by three months of mentoring. The content for the training is offered at no-cost through the DreamBuilder online platform. The second program element is facilitating a course that is part of the Najafi 100 Million Learners Global Initiative, which will seek 15 participants whos businesses are at more advanced level. The course should run for six months using the curriculum of the Global Entrepreneurship Sustainable Business course. The third program element is organizing and hosting an AWE conference in Rwanda, designed to be a full two-day program targeting 80 AWE alumnae. The program will have the following objectives: Objective 1 Ensure that more women have the skills, capabilities, and resources to fully participate in the economy. Objective 2 Promote women's social and economic empowerment. Objective 3 Continue to build on past AWE cohorts to strengthen the entrepreneurial eco-system in Rwanda for women. Participants and Audiences: For the DreamBuilder program, selection criteria will be based on having a small business or business idea. The target audience will be 30 women aged 25-45 who are starting businesses or have just started one and want to learn how to grow it. For the Global Entrepreneurship Sustainable Business course, participant selection criteria should be based on type of business, maturity of business, and education level of applicants. This course targets women aged 25 to 45 who have strong computer and internet skills. A bachelors degree is required. For the conference, selection criteria should be based on graduation from an AWE program, include a mix of participants from prior AWE cohorts, and have the availability to participant for two full days.