Association Burkinabè de Fundraising

The Awa 2022 Prize is a competition organised by Enabel to highlight women entrepreneurs and their projects in Belgian development cooperation countries.

Entrepreneurship knows no borders and no gender. All over the world, women and men are bringing their communities to life through their businesses.

Nevertheless, the path of a woman entrepreneur is often strewn with obstacles that make it more difficult to bring her project to fruition. For example, inequalities linked to social norms, time devoted to family care, difficulties in accessing the market and finance, or physical and psychological violence based on gender are obstacles for many women.

Aware of the economic issues at stake and committed to working towards a better distribution of opportunities, Enabel has developed, at the request of the Minister for Development Cooperation and Urban Policy, Meryame Kitir, the Awa Prize for impact entrepreneurs.

Categories Awa 2022 Awards

• Candidates can choose to apply in one of the following categories:
  • Start-up category : This prize is aimed at companies that have been in existence for at least one year and no more than three years at the time the competition is launched.
  • Scaling category : This prize is aimed at companies that have been in existence for three years or more at the time the competition is launched.
  • Innovation category: This prize is open to any company developing particularly innovative products, services and/or approaches.
  • Audience choice category: This prize is open to any company in the Start-up, Scale-up or Innovation categories wishing to compete for the People's Choice via an online vote.

Advantages Awa 2022 price

• The first prize up to €50,000.
• The second prize up to €10,000.
• The third prize up to €5,000.

Countries taking part in 2022 Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, DRC, Guinea, Jordan, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Palestine, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda.

Eligibility criteria

• Who is the Awa Prize for?
  • To apply for the Awa Prize, you must :
  • Be a woman of legal age in her country of residence.
  • Be a national of a participating country.
  • Be the (joint) founder and/or non-minority shareholder of a company registered for at least 1 year in the participating country.
• Women entrepreneurs targeted
  • The competition is open to all women who are (co-)founders and/or majority or equal partners in a company based in one of the selected countries.
  • No minimum company turnover is required. However, as the aim of the competition is to highlight high-impact projects, the demonstrated and/or potential socio-economic benefits of the companies selected will be key selection criteria.
  • As participation in the Competition is entirely digital, candidates must have access to an Internet connection. Candidates must also be able to understand and express themselves in French or English.

For more information, please visit the Awa prize.