Apply to Our Female Founders Fellowship Program
The Female Founders Fellowship is a program specifically designed to give women the support they need to grow their businesses. Starting on December 8th, this program will provide training, peer support, consulting, advisory services, and more to each Fellow. The exclusive program is only open to ten women total across Sulaimani and Erbil.
Apply to the Fellowship here by November 15th at 11:59pm to be considered!
About the Program
Five One Labs is pleased to announce its second intake of the Female Founders Fellowship, a program tailored to the needs of women to provide them with the support they need to grow their business. After speaking with women entrepreneurs from Iraq and Syria to learn more about their experiences launching a business, we have evaluated their most pressing needs and obstacles and developed a program specifically designed to meet those needs. Through this program, we intend to foster a collaborative learning environment through skills sharing and teamwork.
Applications for this program are due on November 15 at 11:59pm.
We are looking for a group of 10 women to join our fellowship program in Erbil and Sulaimani. During our four-month program, Fellows will accomplish three main goals:
They will make major steps to grow their business by taking action to reach their personal goals,
Learn new skills related to business, leadership, management, and more,
Build their professional network and confidently communicate their professional brand.
In order to apply, entrepreneurs must meet the following requirements:
You must be a growth stage entrepreneur. This means that you must:
Be operating your business for at least 1-3 years
Have paying customers
You have a recognized brand in the market and you are ready to increase sales and market share
Your business must provide a solution to a problem in your community.
Your business can be a physical store, online, or social media business
You must be able to read, write, and communicate in English
Program Components
This program will not hold your hand and walk you to success. We are expecting you to be the leaders and drivers of your business. We will support you to do this in a variety of ways.
The program will have five main components, each intended to develop the entrepreneur in a unique way:
Four training workshops: These workshops are intended to teach entrepreneurs new skills. Topics of these workshops will contain business, leadership, and design thinking components; however, each training will be designed based on the needs of the participants.
Weekly meetings: These sessions are designed to hold the group accountable for each other’s success. You will meet on a weekly basis to define goals, discuss progress, and contribute insights to the group as a whole. You will spend at least 10% of your time helping other fellows meet their goals during this program.
Interns: Each fellow will be matched with an intern to help her manage her business. These interns will be trained on specific business concepts such as marketing, sales, financial management, and more. This component will provide the fellow with real management skills and an extra hand to get the work done.
Mentorship: Each fellow will be matched with a mentor, either remote or in-person, to support her throughout the program.
Networking events: Finally the fellow will be invited to different networking, press, and public speaking events intended to push the entrepreneur out of her comfort zone and become a stronger leader.
Timeline
December 8, 2019: Kick off workshop
January 8, 2020: Workshop 2, develop your brand
February 8, 2020: Workshop 3, being a manager
March 8, 2020: Final workshop, strategy and planning
Note: Dates may change depending on participants’ availability.