Hi. Today, I'm coming to you from the mountains of Mexico, in the city of Oaxaca.
Overnight the Federal Government released $12 Million dollars of matched funding, to be available for Boosting Female Founders in the startup space.
The objectives of this funding is to:
stimulate private sector investments into innovative startups led by women
help women entrepreneurs overcome the disadvantages faced in getting access to finance and support to grow their startups
enable female founders to scale-up, expand into domestic and global markets, and become self-sufficient
boost the economy through increasing the diversity of startup founders.
This is matched funding, so while funding is available between $25,000 and $480,000 dollars, that amount has to be matched from external sources, whether that be revenue, whether it be lending, or whether it be through investment from other people into the business.
In order to access the funding, a lot of requirements have to be complied with - business plans, project plans, projections, market analysis, go to market strategies. It's a lot of documentation.
This is why I say over and over, it's best to have this information prepared, so that you're ready to go when these opportunities come up, because, like a lot of other sources of funding, the timeframe for this is quite short.
This is also a perfect example of what's called a “competitive funding round”, which means that you don't just apply for it and get what you ask for. You actually have to prove that your business plan, and your strategy, and your outcomes, and your impacts are more in alignment with what the purpose of the funding is, than other people. And there are going to be a LOT of people looking to apply for this funding.
Another thing to remember with this, also, is that it's a two-stage process. The first is an “Expression of Interest”, which is where you outline what the purpose and outcomes are going to be. If you are aligned with the funding, then you may get invited to actually apply for the funding.
If you are a female founder, or if you know a female founder, or if you know of someone who's looking at growing their business and they're relatively in the startup stage, the below documents have some further information for you.
The competition for this funding will be high and the application timeframes are quite tight, so I recommend getting in touch as soon as possible to start collating the documentation required for the Expression of Interest and to commence your application.