i-Like Africa Digital Divas Program
I LIKE AFRICA is a program designed to encourage ICT enabled social innovation and entrepreneurship by linking one million women to ICT.
About You
About You
First Name
sheida
Last Name
mutambi-mutuku
Twitter URL
https://twitter.com/SheidaMutuku (idle account)
Facebook URL
https://www.facebook.com/#!/sheida.mutuku
About Your Organization
Organization Name
Woodside Africa Group
Organization Website
none
Organization Country
Kenya, NA, Nairobi
Country where this project is creating social impact
Kenya, XX, Whole Country
Is your organization a
For‐profit
How long has your organization been operating?
1‐5 years
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
None
The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..
Innovation
Name Your Entry
i-Like Africa Digital Divas Program
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Idea (you're poised to launch)
How long have you been in operation?
Still in idea phase, but looking to launch soon
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
ICTs offer flexibility of time and space, a way out of isolation, and access to knowledge and productive resources.
They are enabling tools for economic development and social change.
Women often suffer from limited availability of time, social isolation, and lack of access to productive resources. Women need ICTs to get more information to carry out their productive, reproductive, and community roles. They need ICTs to conduct their businesses, as a service of employment and to work in the ICT industry. They need ICTs to find resources for themselves, their families, their work, and their communities. They need to have a voice in their lives, their community, their government and the larger world that shares their issues and problems. Women need ICTs to function in a digital world.
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
The majority of African women continue to be excluded from access to digital technology.
Forced to choose between spending resources on buying computers, subscribing to broadband or even a mobile phone on the one hand, and buying food for their families and meeting other very basic needs of survival on the other, it is clear what their choices will be.
High levels of poverty, lack of training and skills, apprehensive perception towards technology, and unequal sharing of care-giving responsibilities between women and men, act as significant barriers to access and use of ICTs.
My solution is to literally put netbooks into the hands of one million African women and take them through training in basic ICT skills, developing feasible models, incubation, financial linkages, and finally sharing successful stories through case publications. These publications will inspire other women from all over Africa and beyond to take charge of their lives and begin generating their own income.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
i-LIKE AFRICA will be implemented by taking the participants through 5 phases:
1. Certified Training in basic ICT and enterprise skills
2. Competitions to identify great ideas coupled with solid business models and plans.
3. Incubation program that includes training and mentoring for selected participants
4. Finance forums with Venture Capital partners and a commercial bank.
5. Case publications of exemplary participants.
The training shall be carried out nationwide in all the 47 counties. A total of 200,000 women shall be taken through the program in 2012, translating to 33,334 women per month (an average of 700 pax per county per month).
A total of 200 trainers shall be dispatched to the counties to conduct the training and guide participants in developing their Competition Entries.
Participant registration is ongoing, with a Human Resources Recruitment company having been identified to spearhead, refine and vet the participants and manage the trainers.
Competitions, Incubations and VC Forums shall be carried out in selected towns in the country.
Exceptional and outstanding cases shall culminate into publications.
Provision of the equipment and knowledge will encourage ICT enabled social innovation and entrepreneurship by young women in Africa. It will also encourage technology adoption in the region.
The project Launch is tentatively scheduled for September 2012 in Nairobi, where all the relevant partners shall be requested to attend. The launch is expected to attract and secure more financial partners for the targeted numbers to be met.
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
Small, numerous ICT related activities abound in Africa. Different outfits offer training, competition, incubation or financial services.
i-Like Africa is different in the following dimensions:
1. The program provides an End to end intervention, not just one component
2. It Solely focuses on young women.
3. It has got an Africa wide focus, as opposed to being run in Nairobi (Capital City) only.
4. It targets the masses, as opposed to the prevalent ‘boutique’ projects that are well meaning but have got low impact.
5. Partnership based, institutions with relevant expertise included in the program
These players would welcome the opportunity to be contracted as one of the service providers for the program, hence they really are not deemed as a challenge but as collaborators.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What solution(s) does your initiative address to better the lives of girls and women by leveraging technology? (select all applicable)
Access to technology, Access to education/training, Access to economic opportunity.
What has been the impact of your solution to date?
560,000 women have registered and are on stand by to be immersed in the program in 2012, whereas the capacity is only 200,000 women a year. Over 700 applications have been received for the trainers’ positions, against the 200 available positions countrywide. These trainers will undergo a training session which shall enable them to use the skills even after program completion. Churches, Social halls and private business especially in the rural areas have authorised the use their premises for training. Crucial partnerships have been secured such as media partner and women groups networks for sponsoring their members.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
1. 200,000 women to be immersed in the program in 2012 in Kenya alone (1,000,000 young women by end of 2016). We will roll out to Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda/Burundi year on year.
2. We expect a HIGH AWARENESS & UPTAKE of ICT entrepreneurship and other opportunities by women.
3. There will be strong innovation and design of FEASIBLE BUSINESS MODELS by young women entrepreneurs.
4. We shall BRIDGE ENTREPRENEURS WITH POTENTIAL INVESTORS AND PARTNERS.
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
200,000 women will have been trained in 6 months.
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1
Key partnerships secured .
Task 2
Confirmation of registered participants countrywide.
Task 3
Official Launch to authenticate the program.
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
400 000 women will be trained in Kenya, with pilot tests running Tanzania.
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1
Secure 100% funding for the year
Task 2
Secure ALL partners relevant to the program.
Task 3
Establish key partnerships in Tanzania.
Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.
A local ICT initiative was launched in my country last year. It called for the best ICT business ideas, with a promise of usd50000 grant award to the winners. Out of the 139 applications, only 15% were women. Women and ICTs are key factors in the socio-economic growth equation in Africa. I therefore decided to undertake a massive project that will enhance the chances of women participation in ICTs, with a special focus on business, as an avenue of socio-economic growth and development in Africa. Having started my business with only a laptop and mobile phone, I was totally convinced that other women if adequately equipped can also engage in different businesses, at whatever level, and make something of themselves, their country and our continent.
Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships
A software company has agreed in principle to be our partner, which will drastically the project costs by 40% once this relationship has been formalised. A local media house is also on board as our media partner. A university is on board to develop the i-like curriculum and train the trainers. Another local institution is our monitoring and evaluation company that will manage the trainers and on the ground logistics during the training and competition.
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list
I-Like Africa constantly needs to boost up its resource pool, as well as to be fine tuned for a successful delivery.
I am a self described social entrepreneur, with extensive and intensive experience in designing and implementing social programs, hence able to support any other initiatives in the areas specified.
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 | 45 weeks ago sheida mutambi-mutuku updated this Competition Entry. |
| 48 weeks ago sheida mutambi-mutuku updated this Competition Entry. |
| 48 weeks ago sheida mutambi-mutuku updated this Competition Entry. |
| 48 weeks ago sheida mutambi-mutuku updated this Competition Entry. |
| 48 weeks ago sheida mutambi-mutuku submitted this idea. |
