SAIS Female Founder Award 2025: (Deadline 12 May, 2025)

Applications are open for the SAIS Female Founder Award 2025. The award recognizes visionaries who have achieved success in their fields, create social impact, and encourage other women to start or grow their own businesses.

The SAIS Female Founder Award is an initiative by “Scaling digital Agriculture Innovations through Start-ups” (SAIS), a project implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The SAIS vision is to transform the food systems by being the leading community for tech ventures ​in emerging markets. The start-ups they support must offer solutions that lead to income growth, improved nutrition or adaptation to climate change. With the SAIS Female Founder Award, their aim is to strengthen the visibility of female-led start-ups and to promote a more equitable and dynamic landscape for female founders to become the next ‘gazelles’ and succeed in building a unicorn in Africa.

Prize

For the three winners the prize include:  

1st Place: 

• Vouchers: up to €12,000
• Services: up to €18,000

2nd Place: 

• Vouchers: up to €5,000
• Services: up to €10,000

3rd Place:

• Vouchers: up to €3,000
• Services: up to €4,000

Eligibility

• Your business is registered and operates on the African continent.
• Your business has an official certificate of registration.
• You are an African female who (co)founded and runs a start-up / growth stage business.
• You should have technical experience in your area of operation.
• At least three people who work full-time for the start-up (including yourself as a founder).
• Your product/service is digital or has a strong digital component.
• Your product is offering an impactful solution in the AgTech, FoodTech or ClimateTech sectors in Africa.
• Your company has been registered at least 2 years before submitting the application.
• Your start-up must have clear evidence of traction (customer base, revenue).
• You have a unique value proposition in the market(s) where you operate.
• Your start-up should have an understandable and convincing business model (clear problem statement and defined customer segment).
• You promote female visionary leadership, support other female leaders and contribute to women’s economic empowerment.
• You are fostering a culture that values diversity.
• Your work has a positive impact on solving an important problem in industry.
• You contribute to start-up ecosystem development.

Application

The application deadline is May 12, 2025.

Click here to apply

For more information, visit SAIS Female Founder Award.