Call for IAU enterprise and innovation challenge

Proposals must fulfil the following criteria to be eligible for funding under this call:

The Enterprise and Innovation challenge is open to Universities in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa to enter teams of 5 graduates or students to participate. All participating students must be in the final year or penultimate year of their programme (e.g. 4th or 5th year of a five-year course). Entries are restricted to the following themes:  

Digital enterprises

Proposals that demonstrate innovative technological approaches to African and/or global issues. This could involve empowering communities with digital tools, leveraging data for performance monitoring and informed decision-making, or transforming physical offerings through the integration of digital services.

Green enterprises

Proposals that address the strengthening of the green economy. Combatting climate change is of critical importance to improve  well-being and standards of living across the region. Green entrepreneurship can help develop and propagate new technologies, create new markets and drive change in the business sector. Stimulating green entrepreneurship is therefore an important lever that universities in the region can use to drive the transition to a more sustainable economy.

Social enterprises

Proposals that demonstrate social impact for communities either as a stand-alone or as an integral part of Digital and Green economies. These proposals are expected to provide goods and services for the market in an entrepreneurial and innovative manner and uses its resources primarily to achieve social objectives. 

Enterprise and innovation stages

We welcome proposals of projects that are at the stages of development outlined below, specifically:

• Development and prototyping:

Building prototypes and testing early versions of the innovative or enterprise solution.

• Testing and iteration:

Gathering feedback, refining the solution, and iterating on the prototype to meet the desired criteria.

• Implementation and commercialisation:

Rolling out the innovative solution to the target audience and ensuring its successful adoption and commercialization.

Projects in the following phases of development are out of scope in this phase, and will therefore not be accepted:

• Idea generation:

Brainstorming and gathering a range of potential solutions to the identified opportunities or necessities

• Idea refinement and evaluation:

Assessing and prioritising ideas based on feasibility, potential impact, and alignment with the enterprise's goals.

Proposals must fulfill the following criteria: 

• Project leaders appointed by the university must submit entries on behalf of the student and/or graduate teams. 
• The project leaders must obtain the institutional approval to apply and lead the project. They must be able to submit a Letter of Support signed by the Head of Institution, Head of Department, or other person with appropriate delegated authority, expressing specific commitment to the proposed project, willingness to receive funding, 
• We encourage participation from female students and students with disabilities.. 
• Shortlisted teams are expected to participate in capacity strengthening support which may include webinars, workshops and mentorship.

Please send an enquiry to SSAhighereducation@britishcouncil.org if you are in doubt about the eligibility of your organisation. 

Eligibility checks will be applied to all applications after the grant call closes. Those which are not led by an eligible institution will be rejected during these checks.

The Innovation for African Universities: Enterprise and Innovation Challenge expects to support 8 projects of between £20 000.00 and £25 000.00 in value each, for a 12-month period, starting from September 2025. 

Applicants may be asked to adjust their budget if their request does not fit within funding guidelines or if this is considered not appropriate by the application reviewers.

All applications should be completed and submitted on Good Grants platform. It is possible to download a blank version of the application form to enable your partnership to develop your answers together before it is submitted. 

The deadline for applications is 17:00 GMT on 26/08/2025. We recommend that you submit at least an hour before to avoid any last-minute technical glitches.

Due to the volume of applications, we receive, any application received after specified deadline will be considered ineligible. 

Ensure you have included all of the documentation listed in the Pre-submission Checklist as incomplete applications may be immediately regarded as ineligible.  The British Council receives large numbers of applications to its funding calls, and for this reason we cannot facilitate resubmission process should your application be deemed ineligible. 

Please ensure that process of seeking institutional approval required for the application submission should be initiated timely. Each Grant call remains open for 4-6 weeks, which is a sufficient time to get required approvals and documents like CV’s, supporting letters etc. 

Please send the application form and the other required attachments (budget sheet, CVs, etc.) as separate attachments, please do not merge them into a single file.

If you require any access adjustments or have any additional support or learning needs in order to submit the application, please contact us prior to the deadline on SSAhighereducation@britishcouncil.org

Applications must only be submitted using this link https://goingglobalpartnerships.grantplatform.com/

Word limits must be followed, as text over the word limits will not be read.