The Bayer Foundation Women Empowerment Award (WEA), in collaboration with Impact Hub Network, is a vibrant celebration of women entrepreneurs driving forward creative transformation and leading innovating change.
This award is dedicated to supporting women entrepreneurs pioneering in health, nutrition and related climate-smart solutions and recognizing their contributions. The award focuses on women entrepreneurs from Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. The women entrepreneurs from these regions are encouraged to apply for the Bayer Foundation Women Empowerment Award (WEA) via online application. From all the received applications, 15 exceptional applicants (5 per region) are selected to join the 6-month Accelerator Programme and enhance their business skills.
This year the award was announced on 7th Feb 2024 for all the visionary women entrepreneurs and the application deadline was 27th March 2024.
The benefits of this award
6-Month Accelerator Programme: Mentorship, expert network access, and unwavering entrepreneurial support.
Sponsored Trip to Berlin to attend the award ceremony in early June 2024.
€25,000 Cash Support to enhance your business growth and amplify your impact.
Visibility and Recognition through media presence to share your story with the world.
Be a part of the Alumni Network: Connect with an influential global community of women entrepreneurs.
Access to the Impact Hub Network: Join 320K Impact Makers accelerating inclusive and sustainable innovation at scale.
Award journey timeline:
Pitch Your Vision
April
30 Selected finalists will be coached to pitch their ideas to a jury.
Spotlight in Berlin
4th – 6th June
The sponsored trip includes coverage for your travel, accommodation, and visa expenses. Any additional expenses or personal preferences beyond the covered items will be the responsibility of the participant. Apart from the awardees’ personal preferences during the Berlin trip, the participant will not have any cost in participating in the program.
The 15 winners will attend the Award Ceremony in Berlin and join Bayer Foundation’s Social Innovation Days.
Accelerate Your Impact
June – December
Kick-start your impact journey with the 6-month Acceleration Programme.
Eligibility Criteria:
A Woman Entrepreneur (women-led enterprises) that contribute to driving social change and improving their communities. (The applicant must be a woman in a leadership position ((co)-founder or C-level) in the company. Other leadership positions in the organization may (can also) be filled by males.)
Our emphasis is on empowering women-led enterprises engaged in developing health, nutrition and related climate-smart solutions that align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero Hunger) and 3 (Good Health & Wellbeing). We are looking for entrepreneurs who aspire to reduce inequalities with innovative solutions to uplift one another.
Entrepreneurs from Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East are eligible to apply. Business registration in the Global South is preferred.
Offers an impactful solution in health, nutrition, and/or climate-smart solutions in either field: This includes but is not limited to solutions in food, agriculture, and water. Stand-alone climate-smart solutions will not be accepted, they must be related to health and nutrition.
Organizations of any legal entity type may apply, as long as there is a strong business mindset and the business is not dependent on grants/donations/subsidies/etc as a sole income stream.
Solutions should (aim to) be accessible to Low or Middle-Income Communities. Higher product/service prices before economies of scale are accepted.
The business should have an annual revenue of up to 1 million USD.
The applicant should have a strong personal drive and commitment to social impact. We favour applicants who have had to overcome obstacles in life.
Bayer Foundation Women Empowerment Award aims to support women entrepreneurs engaged in developing solutions for health, nutrition, and their intersection with climate-related challenges.
How does the selection work?
After the application period ends, all submissions will be carefully reviewed. From the pool of received applicants, the top 30 finalists in each region will be chosen. In April, the finalist program begins, giving 10 founders from each region a chance to pitch their ideas directly to a panel of judges from the Bayer Foundation, Impact Hub Network, and Philanthropy Network. Then, five winners from each region will be selected to attend the final event and join the Acceleration Programme.
Bayer Foundation Awards Scouting in Nepal (IHK):
Impact Hub Kathmandu (IHK) as a part of Impact Hub Network, supported in scouting the applications for the Bayer Foundation Women Empowerment Awards from Nepal. Through the existing networks of IHK that consist of several entrepreneurs/enterprises and civil society organizations, IHK shared the information through dedicated emails, posts and calls. IHK also hosted an outreach event in an all-day open event called ‘WOMEN LED HAAT BAZAAR’ for the Bayer Foundation Women Empowerment Awards at Maya Manor Boutique Hotel, Hattisar on 9 March 2024. The event included stalls/booths from 56 women entrepreneurs across sectors such as fashion, artisanal goods, food, health and nutrition, fashion, education and various enablers.
Taking this Women-Led Haat Bazaar as an opportunity to participate in the event and align it with the ‘in-person’ event for the Bayer Foundation Women Empowerment Award as the reach of this event was 1200+ visitors from various professions and backgrounds, IHK had a booth at the event and received 25+ inquiries for the program from entrepreneurs and others in the health and nutrition sector. One-on-one introductions/conversations with the entrepreneurs and visitors about the program were also carried out during this event.
Assistance to those interested applicants who requested guidance in drafting their application for the award was provided by IHK. This was done by guiding them through the questions, and explaining the nature of those questions and the types of answers sought. Additionally, frequent communication with the regional scout lead for the Asia region for this award was carried out to exchange the status of applications from Nepal and reach out to potential applicants.
IHK believes that such opportunities/platforms for Women Entrepreneurs that help in enhancing their innovative solution-oriented businesses are much needed for shaping the entrepreneurial ecosystem for the betterment.
References
(n.d.). Impact Hub. Retrieved 29 March 2024, from https://bayerfoundation-wea.com/
