She Leads Africa Accelerator 2017

• 3 months intensive training on business and operational skills
• Online and offline learning resources 
• Exclusive access and mentorship from some of Nigeria’s leading business personalities
• Opportunity to pitch your business in front of local and international investors
• Features in local and international media

What’s the process?

1. Put together a top notch application package, ace the semi-final interviews and get selected by the review committee.
2. Spend 1 boot camp week being trained by the SLA team and connecting with some of Nigeria’s most prominent business and operational experts.
3. Attend bi-weekly meet ups with the other participants in your location. Complete bi-weekly online workshops.
4. Join us in Lagos for your pitch opportunity in November. Pitch your business to a room of local and international investors and media.

Previous SLA entrepreneurs have been featured on Forbes and CNN and received brand endorsements after pitch day. In total they’ve gone on to raise $1 million, have been invested in by members of 500 startups and a lucky few even got to pitch to Aliko Dangote himself.

• Business with at least one woman aged 18-35 as a shareholder or owner
• Abuja: Retail/E-Commerce companies only 
• Kaduna: Agribusiness companies only 
• Lagos Island: Creatives companies only
• Lagos Mainland: Technology companies only
• Less than 3 years in operations

What’s next? 

Submit your application! Applications open May 15, 2017 and close June 25, 2016 and we will not accept any late submissions. You must upload your pitch deck to your VC4A profile in order for your application to be complete. Make sure you join the She Leads Africa community to gain access to our application tips, free downloadable guide on how to create a BOSS pitch deck and an invitation to a private webinar with our cofounders where you can ask your questions and hear directly from them on what they’re looking for. 

This 2017 SLA Accelerator is run in partnership with the Work in Progress! Alliance – a consortium of Oxfam, Butterfly Works and VC4A focused on driving job creation and youth employment in Nigeria. The Kaduna Agribusiness cohort is sponsored by OCP, Guaranty Trust Bank are the sponsor of the Abuja Retail and E-Commerce cohort and the Lagos Island cohort is sponsored by Cointreau.

As the exclusive caretaker of the world’s largest phosphate resources, OCP has always had a deeply rooted commitment to protecting global food security, through our role in sustainably increasing agricultural productivity. This core value is embodied in our entire OCP team, inspiring our vision and empowering our team to work, innovate and deliver a shared benefit for the world’s population.