EYEA is a member of the Ethiopian Womens Digital Financial Inclusion Advocacy Hub (WDFI), hosted by UNCDF. As a member and a champion in the hub, EYEA had won a grant to implement the project Young Women Entrepreneurs Digital Financial Inclusion. Under its capacity building pillar, EYEA designed and implemented the project.
Key Objectives of the Project
The general objective of the project is to enable young women entrepreneurs to use digital financial services to support the growth of their businesses. The specific objectives are,
● Building the capacities of young women entrepreneurs with digital financial literacy training,
● Facilitating stakeholder engagement workshops,
● To create public awareness for the public about women’s digital financial inclusion.
Scope of the Project
The project is being implemented in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The project aims to advance the women’s digital financial inclusion agenda by implementing three interrelated activities, that directly align with EYEA’s activity pillars,
1. Capacity Building Trainings :- The project will capacitate 50 young women entrepreneurs with digital and financial literacy training. The training has been conducted for the first cohort of trainees and preparations for the second cohort are underway.
2. Public Awareness :- One of the challenges to women’s digital financial inclusion is the lack of awareness about existing digital financial services provided by different financial institutions and financial service providers. Therefore, the objective of this activity is to reach, especially rural
women, who do not have the awareness and information about digital financial services. The ad is running on FM Addis 97.1, on Tafach Hiwot Radio program every week.
3. Advocacy:- Two consultations will take place over the course of two months within the duration of the project. The participants of this consultation workshop will be young women entrepreneurs, governmental institutions, nongovernmental institutions and civil society associations. Stakeholders will deliberate regarding women’s digital financial inclusion within Ethiopia, especially young women entrepreneurs.
Innovation programs are launched throughout the year by Futurize to provide students with a platform to innovate and launch innovative startups, starting with “Fuel Africa” – a healthcare-focused innovation program. Fuel Africa is a virtual entrepreneurship program for 1,000+ students across Sub-Saharan Africa that is launched by Futurize in partnership with AstraZeneca through A. Catalyst Network. The first half of the program was a nine-day innovation challenge and boot camp held on March 23-31, 2023.
In the second year running, the program is working with 15 university partners to help students grow their international network, gain new skills, and innovate new ideas that can work together to bring to life. Students were able to form multi-disciplinary teams, attend workshops, and keynotes, and receive virtual mentoring to help teams develop innovative ideas to advance UN Sustainable Development 3: Good Health and Well-being. At the end of the program, the top 5 teams were able to have the opportunity to pitch their ideas and win a share of a prize fund, mentoring, and a spot in the incubator program.
In this year of Fuel Africa, the program was able to expand to Ethiopia by collaborating with Ethiopian Youth Entrepreneurs Association as an official Ecosystem partner. In the program, three first-generation universities (Bahirdar, Jimma, and Hawassa Universities) were able to participate. In this year's program 23 students from Jimma University, 10 students from Bahirdar University, and 4 students from Hawassa University, a total of 37 students were able to register. 16 students have completed the program as part of a team. These students have shown incredible growth, resilience and creativity to upskill themselves in the field of entrepreneurship and healthcare.
LEARNING OUT COMES OF THE PROGRAM
– Entrepreneurial & Job Creation toolbox – from ideation, market and prototype testing to pitching effectively.
– Diversity & Leadership Mindsets: Working in Interdisciplinary teams across industries and borders
– Social and Community Awareness around the UN SDGs and the pressing need for innovation locally and globally
– Improved Employability Through Technical & Vocational Skills such as out-of-the-box thinking, programming, team-building
– International Exposure to world-class mentors & coaches
