Awa Prize: in 2024, female entrepreneurs and actors in the cultural and creative industries in the spotlight

Deadlines | 28 June 2024

Context

The development of women’s entrepreneurship is a global challenge. The rate of representation of women in the entrepreneurial ecosystem varies depending on the region of the world. For example, in sub-Saharan Africa, 24% of women are entrepreneurs, the majority of them subsistence farmers , while in the Middle East, the representation rate of women entrepreneurs is one of the lowest in the world.
Women’s entrepreneurship is now a lever for the achievement of the various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); it significantly stimulates development potential: women’s entrepreneurship has a direct impact on SDG 5 « Gender equality », and SDG 8 « Decent work ».
At the international level, Belgium is committed to gender equality, the promotion of women’s leadership and the empowerment of women. Thus, under the impulse of the Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation and Major Cities, Meryame Kitir, Enabel is committed to a global approach to support the development and promotion of women’s entrepreneurship, in Belgium and in every country in which Enabel is active.
Over the next two (2) years, Enabel is committed to implementing tools to promote and develop women’s entrepreneurship in Belgium and in the countries in which it works, in order to reduce and fight against socio-economic inequalities. In this context, Enabel is organising a Competition via the Awa Prize, to promote women entrepreneurs in their community and strengthen them in their entrepreneurial success.

Target countries

Enabel operates in twenty-one (21) countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic (CAR), Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Jordan, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Palestine, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda.

In principle, the Competition takes place in every country where Enabel is active. However, for this occurrence, the Competition will not be held in Gambia, Guinea Bissau and CAR, as Enabel is not yet sufficiently established in these countries to effectively support the deployment of the Competition and its activities.

Targeted women entrepreneurs

The Competition is open to any woman (co-)founder and majority or equal partner in a company based in one of the selected countries.
The company turnover for 2024 must be at least €1. Nevertheless, as the objective of the Competition is to highlight high-impact projects, the demonstrated and/or potential socio-economic benefits of the selected companies will be key selection criteria. The third edition of the competition will focus on the cultural and creative industries, with an emphasis on cultural and artistic enterprises that are part of a sustainable and resilient economic system.
As participation in the Competition is entirely digital, candidates must have access to an internet connection. Candidates must also be able to understand and express themselves in French or English.

Competition categories

Candidates may choose to apply in one of the following categories:
1. Start-up category
This award is for companies that have been in existence for at least one year and no more than three years when the Competition is launched.
2. Scale-up category
This award is for companies that have been in existence for three years or more when the Competition is launched.
3. Innovation category
This award is intended for any company that develops particularly innovative products, services and/or approaches.
4. People’s choice category
This award is open to any company in the Start-up, Scale-up or Innovation categories wanting to compete for the People’s Choice via an online vote.

Consul the Internal Rules and conditions of participation

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