APPLY for the Chat for Women’s Livelihoods Accelerator Program 2024

The Chat for women’s livelihoods accelerator program with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is an 18-month program that offers training, mentorship, and support to 6 social enterprises. These enterprises are dedicated to empowering women in economically disadvantaged countries. We are looking for organizations that can enhance business skills, offer education, provide access to digital markets and payment tools, and offer essential mental health or healthcare support to working women and micro-entrepreneurs. If your organization fits this description, we invite you to apply.

What to expect from the Program

1. Get the support you need for prototyping and launching your use case.
2. We provide a comprehensive three-month onboarding and training process to help your organization create a fully operational minimum viable chat (MVP) that is ready to go live.
3. Receive extensive training and ongoing monthly enterprise support tailored to your strategic chat service objectives for 18 months.
4. Benefit from mentorship from leading experts and practitioners, including Solutions Engineers, Conversational Designers, and a team of Turn.io AI/Data Engineers.
5. Gain access to world-class technology with a Turn.io Enterprise license, which includes all platform features, as well as a subsidized WhatsApp Business Account for 18 months.
6. Increase your knowledge in chat-based technologies through a collaborative learning environment and quarterly cohort sessions that foster a strong community of practice among the six participating enterprises.

Who should apply

We are seeking Social Enterprises operating in Kenya, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Uganda, Senegal, and Nigeria, as well as other low-income regions.

We are specifically interested in those who have a well-defined business case or Theory of Change on how they can utilize a chat solution on WhatsApp to enhance the economic empowerment of women.

To be eligible, organizations must be dedicated to building and continuously improving their chat service. They should also have the necessary time, resources, or team to successfully achieve this objective.

Selection Criteria

We are looking for applicants who have a strong business case or theory of change for using chat to benefit low-income women entrepreneurs or women in the workforce. We are particularly interested in those who are working towards reducing gender disparities.

The ideal applicants are social enterprises that are dedicated to developing and expanding a WhatsApp-based chat service. They should have the necessary resources to build, manage, and sustain the chat service even after the Accelerator program.

Applicants should also have a clear measurement and evaluation plan in place. This plan should outline how their new chat-based system can deliver baseline data (before the accelerator) and endline data (after the accelerator) on women’s economic empowerment. This can be measured through indicators such as increased turnover, higher income, better market access, upskilling, and/or financial services integration.

For more details visit the program website here. To apply go here. Application Deadline is January 31, 2024