Call for Applications: Transform East Africa Fund{up to $300,000}

Transform aims to reach as many startups as they can which have Innovations within the areas of health, waste, water and sanitation, environment, inclusive economics, raising living standards, and impacts a large number of people while at it.

This time around they are looking to get as many startups as possible to choose from giving a better and equal chance for startups in rural and marginalized areas to compete for grant funding.

Criteria

The following requirements must be satisfied by projects in order for TRANSFORM to support them.
One of the six areas that TRANSFORM finances clearly has the potential to improve the lives of low-income people.
A few or all of these key areas may be the focus of the East Africa Selection Panel. Projects must connect back to at least one of the selected impact regions.
Take tackle environmental and social issues in a genuinely unique manner.
Possess the potential to operate in fields where Unilever, as the implementing partner, has the experience and the capacity to offer value to project development
Projects must incorporate a novel technology, business strategy, or methodology; this may entail adopting a tried-and-true commercial strategy for a different market

Possess the potential to operate in fields where Unilever, as the implementing partner, has the experience and the capacity to offer value to project development.

Projects must explicitly relate to Unilever East Africa.
Will produce global public goods by advancing public understanding or research.
We must openly share the program’s lessons learned.
The social entity will become the owner of any intellectual property created by the projects.
This intellectual property cannot be used only by Unilever, the FCDO, or EY.
Have a strategy in place to develop a market-based solution that could achieve operational sustainability.

A social enterprise, not an NGO, must make the application.

Possess the capacity to grow in scope

In order to obtain additional funding, there must be a clear path for the proposed project to be economically feasible at scale and with testable assumptions.

The business must be able to deliver the project successfully and absorb the funding and in-kind assistance received throughout the project.

All TRANSFORM-funded programs must show additionality; in other words, They cannot use TRANSFORM funds to support initiatives that Unilever would have supported independently. Funds from the TRANSFORM program must only be given to third parties; Unilever is not permitted to use them for internal projects.

Projects must also demonstrate that they are additional using at least one of the criteria below: