African Climate Innovative Challenge (ACIC) for Empowering Young Africans to create impact in their Communities 2023

The African Climate Innovation Challenge (ACIC) which is jointly developed and implemented by 3 E’s 4 Africa, Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO) and StartUp Lounge Africa is a project which intends to focus on the innovative minds and projects of young Africans and encourage and empower them to create a local impact in their communities. It is an idea contest which challenges young Africans to come up with innovative, green ideas and helps them to develop them into real solutions. 

Young Africans apply with ideas for solving environmental problems with an entrepreneurial mindset. The best 10 concepts are selected as the ACIC Cohort. They will go through an online curriculum, consisting of training and digital workshops, as well as P2P sessions between mentors and participants.

This gives teams the opportunity to work on and develop their ideas further. Topics covered include environmental protection, climate change, social engagement, digital literacy, project management and business creation/management. The top 5 projects will be invited to the African Climate Week in Nairobi as finalists where the pitch event will take place. After the pitch event, the jury will select the 3 winners.

About African Climate Innovation Challenge (ACC)

Empowering young Africans to create impact in their communities. The African Climate Innovation Challenge is jointly developed and implemented by 3 E’s 4 Africa (3E4A), Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO) and Start.Up Lounge Africa (SLA). This project targets the innovative young African changemakers to encourage and empower them to make a difference in their communities. We focus on 4 modules to solve sustainability challenges through entrepreneurship and innovation. Curriculum The ACIC curriculum consists of trainings and workshops led by experts as well as coaching sess... rea... read more

ACIC Young Africans Challenge

Aim and Benefits of ACIC Young Africans Challenge

1. Empower youth and local communities in Africa by providing them not only with entrepreneurship skills, but also with the tools and knowledge they need to create local impact.
2. Help African communities build resilience and adapt to the adverse effects of climate change locally.
3. Addressing and solving sustainability-related challenges through entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa.

Benefits: 

• Up to $15,000 USD in prize money for the three winning teams to directly implement their innovative start-up ideas in their communities.
• Tailor made curriculum as well as dedicated Peer-to-peer mentorship for all participants to further develop their start-up ideas.
• 3 months incubation for all 10 selected teams to move past the ideation stage and turn their ideas into reality.
• Pitch your project during the African Climate Summit co-hosted by the Republic of Kenya and the African Union Commission (AUC) in Nairobi.

Requirements for ACIC Young Africans Challenge Qualification

The ACIC this year is open to all African countries. Teams applying must therefore be based in Africa. Please keep in mind that the whole program of the ACIC will be in English.

Any innovative and/or relevant solution which strives to help your community mitigate climate change or to enable your community to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change qualifies for the ACIC. For example:

1. 1. an idea which proposes a solution or enables farmers to deal with the harsh weather conditions (e.g. longer droughts periods) would qualify as a climate change adaptation solution;
   2. an idea which proposes a solution or enables people in your community to reduce CO2 or methane emissions would qualify as a climate change mitigation solution.

Application Deadline

How to Apply

Please fill in the application form before the deadline. In filling the form, please take your time and carefully answer the questions completely. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

For more details visit: ACIC website.