We’re calling on all Diaspora Women Professionals to join the movement to bridge the capital gap for female-led and female-owned startups and SMEs!
It’s often challenging for female entrepreneurs to get the funding they need, especially because female-led or female-owned ventures often draw low attention from investors. We’re calling on all Diaspora Women professionals to get the skills and knowledge to invest in these underserved entrepreneurs.
Through an 8 week Virtual programme, you will receive training on how to start functioning as an angel investor who invests either individually or collectively thus minimizing the risk. The training will take a very practical approach where you will have real case studies to evaluate and invest in from the Green project.
This programme is intended to help reduce the financing gap within the Green female-led and female-owned SMEs thus supporting sustainable growth, development and financial inclusion of female green entrepreneurs through diaspora investment, mentorship and portfolio management.
This programme is solely focused on certain sectors in the Green Economy namely, Food & Agriculture, Renewable Energy and WASH(Water, sanitation, Hygiene)
As part of this program we want to bring together successful, motivated, and passionate women professionals with a broad interest in the venture investing space who are driven to find and fund exceptional Green Entreprises from SNV and Zidicircle’s cohorts’ incubation and acceleration programmes.
The programme will cover three thematic areas with 3 sub-topics per thematic area as displayed below;
Costs
The programme is offered free of charge and upon completion of the training, the venture backers start to invest in tickets of 1000 Euros as a minimum into some of the incubated businesses through the Zidicircle Diaspora investment Coop– a special purpose member-driven investment vehicle that enables angel investors to aggregate their investments. All the due diligence and investment support will be provided post-training.
At the conclusion of this training, the venture backers will have broad latitude in identifying, evaluating, and engaging compelling investment opportunities. They will also be able to:
- Develop own investment strategy
- Draft a short investment memo (Term sheet)
- Select a small portfolio of Green SME’s currently under Incubation
- Make first Investments
- Make Cross border investments
- Become certified Angel Investors
Qualifications & Requirements
Interested candidates should meet the following criteria:
- Have business or professional experience
- Have a strong interest in developing skills and experience as investors
- Be dedicated to change the current funding ecosystem
- Be able to dedicate approximately 2 hours per week for 8 weeks for the program
- Be willing to invest in Ghana’s green sector
- Be ready to commit funds in first investments
The Diaspora Women Green Venture Backers programme was created in partnership with SNV Ghana under the Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana (GrEEn) project. The GrEEn project is a four-year action from the European Union, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and aims at creating greater economic and employment opportunities for youth, women, and returning migrants by promoting and supporting sustainable, green businesses in two selected regions in Ghana: the Ashanti and Western regions.
Read more about the partnership with SNV.
Only applicants who meet the criteria will be contacted.
Would you like to join as a collaborating partner? Please email info@zidicircle.com
SNV
SNV is a not-for-profit international development organization that makes a lasting difference in the lives of people living in poverty by helping them raise incomes and access basic services. SNV focuses on three key sectors: agriculture, renewable energy and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). SNV has a long-term, local presence in over 25 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and is working in Ghana since 1992.
The GrEEn project is a four-year action from the European Union and its European Union Emergency Trust Fund (EUTF), the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana, SNV and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). The project aims at creating greater economic and employment opportunities for youth, women and returning migrants by promoting and supporting sustainable, green businesses and local climate-resilient economies in two regions in Ghana: Ashanti and Western. Within the GrEEn project, SNV is responsible for two result areas:
- Employability and entrepreneurship capabilities of youth, women and returnees are improved in selected sectors, for the benefit of green and climate-resilient local economies.
- SMEs, offering decent and sustainable jobs to youth, women and returnees, are incubated and/or accelerated and contribute to green and climate-resilient local economies.
Zidi B.V
Zidi B.V is a business incubator and Investments Advisory firm based in the Netherlands that is promoting inclusive entrepreneurship and Financing for the Diaspora Entrepreneurs in Europe & SME’s in Africa. Zidi does this by providing training, mentorship and Investments to diaspora entrepreneurs who partner with local SME’s in Africa. Zidicircle has headquarters in the Netherlands with entrepreneurship and investments chapters in Ghana, Kenya, Germany and has hosted diaspora entrepreneurs from 24 African countries.
Zidi has been recognized by the European Union’s EMEN Project as one of the migrant-led initiatives that promote inclusive entrepreneurship in Europe Nominated by the European Women Payments & Fintech as Initiative of the Year (2018). Amsterdam’s Municipality’s initiative Startup Amsterdam and the Silicon Canals recently listed Fridah, Zidicircle’s Founder and Managing Director, as a top female entrepreneur in the Netherlands to watch in 2022. Again, Startup Amsterdam in their publication: Ultimate Guide for Female Entrepreneurs and Women in Tech mentioned Zidicircle as one of the best entrepreneurship training programmes for female talent in tech. Zidi has also been awarded Best SME Entrepreneurship & Investment Promoters – the Netherlands by Wealth and Finance International.
Zidi’s Venture Backers Programme is targeted at local and diaspora professionals who are interested in investing in SMEs in their home countries.
Diaspora Investments Coop
The Diaspora Investments Coop is a special purpose investment vehicle that enters into investment agreements with start-ups or small and medium-sized businesses as an investor for and on behalf of the venture backer who has decided to invest in the business concerned. The beneficial ownership from those investments lies with the investors.
The investment vehicle was initiated by an organised group of diaspora individuals from Zidi B. V’s Venture Backers programme and other professionals, entrepreneurs and like-minded international angel investors who want to reduce the knowledge, resources and funding gap for startups and small and medium businesses founded by underserved entrepreneurs who are driven by a positive impact on the environment, society and support the sustainable development goals (SDG’s).