Call For Applications: Acumen Energy for Livelihoods Accelerator – East Africa 2024

Delivered by Acumen Academy, the Energy for Livelihoods accelerator aims to build an ecosystem of locally-led scalable social enterprises across East Africa committed to improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, small businesses, and micro-entrepreneurs. Through the program, participants will develop and refine a scalable business model that has the potential to transform the lives of low-income people while conserving resources and protecting the environment.

Through this program, you will learn how to:

• Develop, refine, and test key hypotheses for how your enterprise can scale
• Make data-driven decisions by gathering customer insights
• Learn ways to communicate and demonstrate your social and environmental impact
• Improve your financial sustainability through isolating and testing your organization’s revenue, cost and investment assumptions
• Refine your value proposition and develop marketing, sales, and pricing strategies that work for low-income customers
• Develop the hard-edged leadership skills needed to build better, truly inclusive, sustainable solutions

Benefits

• Through 12 weeks of structured programming, you will learn the essentials for building a business model that can achieve both social and environmental impact and profitability. You will dive into a curriculum leveraging Acumen’s learnings, expertise in energy investment, and pioneering moral leadership practices, and leave with the competence and character needed to build solutions that improve the livelihoods of low-income communities.
• Taking part will provide you with unique access to a supportive network of peers, facilitators, and mentors who will share constructive feedback, encouragement, and opportunities to profile your work and accelerate you toward scale.
• In addition to developing the essential skills needed to build your business model, cohort members who fulfill all program commitments will be eligible to apply for a share of $50,000 and possible inclusion in Acumen’s PEII+ investment initiative.
• Entrepreneurs who graduate from the program will be welcomed into Acumen Academy’s global community, The Foundry.

Eligibility

Open to social entrepreneurs who run a for-profit social enterprise in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda), using sustainable energy and energy-efficient solutions to positively impact the livelihoods of low-income people, through one of the following models/sectors:

• Agriculture & Allied sector – companies with clean energy solutions throughout the agriculture value chain to improve farm incomes/productivity or reduce costs and labour for smallholder farmers.
• Energy for micro-entrepreneurs – companies enabling clean energy & energy-efficient solutions for businesses that reduce costs or unlock new business opportunities, for example in cooling, cooking, transport, or manufacturing.
• Business enablers – companies providing supplementary services for enabling clean energy transition, including but not limited to distribution and financing solutions, skills development, data tools, and market-building approaches for farmers and businesses.

Additionally, all applicants should have:

• Local founding team members.
• A deep commitment to the work of tackling poverty and injustice and an interest in being part of a global community bound by values.
• An operational track record of 12 months or more with existing customers. Preference will be given to companies who achieved >$40,000 in revenue in the last 12 months.
• Able to demonstrate impact in job creation/enhancing income generation and reducing emissions.
• A team with relevant sector experience and three or more full-time staff. Ideal candidates will have 5+ years of professional work experience.

Deadline: March 11, 2024

Click HERE to Apply