Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) 2018 Start and Scale-up for SDGs Youth Entrepreneurship Pitching Event (US$ 15,000 in funding)

Application Deadline: September 1st 2018

Global Entrepreneurship Week 2018 at the Hall XIV Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland | November 15th 2018

UNCTAD, in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Politecnico di Milano, the International Organization for Migration and Capacity invite young entrepreneurs to pitch business ideas contributing to the sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during the Global Entrepreneurship Week. Migrants entrepreneurs are particularly encouraged to apply.

Impact investors and experts will provide feedback to young start-ups on how to promote sustainable and inclusive growth through entrepreneurship.

Benefits:

• 10 Selected candidates will have the opportunity to showcase in Geneva their business idea to a targeted audience of impact investors and sustainable finance partners.
• Candidates in the scale-up competition will have the opportunity to win an equity fund of US$ 15,000, while candidates in the start-up competition will have the opportunity to win a grant of US$ 5,000.
• The prizes are sponsored by ONE CREATION, a Swiss Investment cooperative whose commitments reflect the combination of social, economic and environmental priorities.
• Participants will receive individual feedback by experts from ONE CREATION and gain
  valuable insights into what impact investors value most.
• They will also have the opportunity to attend a customized workshop on intellectual property provided by WIPO and coaching sessions on resilience and leadership skills provided by FlowInAction, as well as a wide variety of other events organized in Geneva during the Global Entrepreneurship Week, on 12- 16 November, 2018.

Requirements:

• Are you between 15 and 34 years old?
• Do you have a business idea that can contribute to improving social and/or environmental sustainability?
• Is this idea detailed enough to fill in a business canvas?
• Candidates must be aged between 15 and 34.
• Candidates may apply to the start-up or the scale-up competition, based on the following criteria:
• Start-up competition: Business ideas, concepts and/or prototypes must be at the very initial stages of development (1-12 months)
• Scale-up competition: Established businesses must have been at least one year in operation (12 months+).
• All ideas, concepts and/or businesses must aim to contribute to at least one of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. More specifically, ideas, concepts and/or businesses must embed elements of sustainability, either in the resulting final product or service, or in the process used to make the product or deliver the service.
• Two kinds of Entrepreneurship ideas will be specifically encouraged
• (i) Proposals from young migrant/refugee entrepreneurs are particularly encouraged.
• (ii) proposals that provide specific attention to climate change solutions, sustainable environmental management and solutions for sustainable natural resource use
• Applicants must disclose funding already received at the time of applying.

Prize:

• Candidates in the scale-up competition will have the opportunity to win an equity fund of USD$ 15,000, while candidates in the start-up competition will have the opportunity to win a grant of USD$ 5,000.

The prizes are sponsored by ONE CREATION, a swiss Investment cooperative whose commitments reflect the combination of social, economic and environmental problems.

Please read carefully the eligibility criteria in the application form and send your application to: empretec@unctad.org

For further information, please contact:
Fulvia Farineli at fulvia.farinelli@un.org;
Phillippe Rudaz at phillipe.rudaz@un.org

Download:

• Application Form

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the GEW 2018 Start and Scale-up for SDGs Youth Entrepreneurship Pitching Event