The GSMA Innovation Fund for Impactful AI (GBP 250,000 in funding) – Opportunities For Africans
Application Deadline: 19 March 2025
Applications are actually open for the GSMA Innovation Fund for Impactful AI. The GSMA Innovation Fund for Impactful AI will present grants and enterprise constructing assist to small and rising enterprises that leverage AI and different rising applied sciences, in conjunction with cellular expertise, to have a constructive affect on the lives of individuals in LMICs. The fund is in options that reveal the transformative affect of revolutionary AI and supporting rising applied sciences to sort out socio-economic and climate-related challenges.
Fund FOcus
The Fund is sector-agnostic, however precedence shall be given to functions that concentrate on a number of of the next:
- Digital options that leverage contextual information generated by rising applied sciences for coaching and deploying AI-driven services
- Digital options that leverage predictive and generative AI improvements and present promise to scale and ship constructive socio-economic and/or climate-related impacts
- Digital improvements throughout the worth chain, together with: • AI-driven improvements that immediately attain low-income and susceptible populations and purpose to advance socio-economic growth and local weather motion (e.g. HealthTech, AgriTech, ClimateTech, FinTech, EdTech) • AI-driven deep-tech, ecosystem-level improvements [e.g. multimodal large language models (LLMs), edge computing, machine learning, big data] that assist native and regional ecosystems for lastmile innovators to deploy AI options
Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible to apply to the Fund, candidates should meet all the following standards:
- Leverage digital expertise, particularly cellular, to ship options
- Be in a position to reveal how AI and different rising applied sciences (e.g. cellular huge information, IoT, distant sensing, pc imaginative and prescient, blockchain, drones), in conjunction with cellular expertise, shall be leveraged to ship the answer
Entity sort
- Be a for-profit non-public sector small and rising enterprise in a low- or middle-income nation.
- Have energetic customers and business income (customers and income from any services or products) in at the least one eligible nation (see part 3.3 Geography).
- Be an current entity registered and working in the nation of venture implementation on the time of application (whether or not home or foreign-owned or a three way partnership). In instances the place duty for service supply lies with a downstream associate (see part 4) reasonably than with the applicant (e.g. service supply by a neighborhood authorities), it could be acceptable for the applicant to be registered in a rustic apart from that of venture implementation (see geographic restrictions in part 3.3).
- Please observe that just one organisation can apply for funding and develop into a grantee. It have to be the organisation that’s in cost of delivering many of the outputs of the proposed venture. 3.3 Geography — Propose a venture that’s applied in a rustic/international locations that’s/are eligible to obtain official growth help [as per the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) classification] in the next areas: Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Ability to obtain grant funds
- Have a checking account able to receiving GBP funds, as all disbursements from the GSMA shall be made in GBP. As a basic rule, the applicant must be registered in and keep a checking account in the nation the place the venture shall be applied. On an distinctive foundation, topic to the GSMA’s evaluation of the actual case, the GSMA may ship funds to the GBP account of a guardian firm registered in a rustic apart from the venture implementation nation.
The Fund assist bundle contains:
Grant funding: • The quantity requested could be any quantity between GBP 100,000 and GBP 250,000 for a grant that lasts between 15 and 18 months. Applicants are anticipated to justify the submitted funds quantity.
• The grant awarded can’t include any revenue ingredient and shall be made on a cost-only foundation.
• The Fund won’t permit any oblique prices as part of the grant. In addition, a most of 10% grant funds could be allotted to direct overhead prices.
• The Fund will intently oversee the financial utilization of the grant and solely disburse funding based mostly on the achievement of milestones and passable grant spending. Milestone-based funds shall be depending on the grantee offering proof that mutually agreed milestones/targets have been accomplished/achieved.
• Grantees must be ready at instances to obtain reimbursement in arrears of spend occurring, particularly the ultimate milestone fee (20%), Facilitation of partnerships with MNOs (the place related and potential). — Tailored technical help and enterprise constructing assist to construct the grantee’s capability.
- Facilitation of connections with traders (the place related and potential).
- Participation in bootcamps (studying trade programmes with grantees and alumni, capability constructing and connections with traders and different ecosystem stakeholders).
- Monitoring, analysis and studying assist to evaluate the grantee’s affect and principle of change.
- Opportunity to extend the grantee’s visibility and profile to potential companions by means of options in GSMA publications, on social media and participation in industry-leading occasions.
Application Process:
All functions to the Fund MUST be submitted in English. Stage
1 Application January–May 2025: The deadline for submitting pitches is nineteen March 2025 at 23:59 UTC+1 (UK time). Please guarantee registration and eligibility types are accomplished by 12 March 2025
Stage 2 Project Evaluation May–July 2025
Stage 3 Recommendation Panel July 2025 Applicants have to be out there to pitch nearly
Stage 4 Project Appraisal August–September 2025 Applicants have to be out there for an in-person go to from the GSMA Stage 5 Selection Panel October 2025
Stage 6 Contracting October–November 2025
Stage 7 Implementation November 2025–as much as April 2027
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the GSMA Innovation Fund for Impactful AI
The GSMA Innovation Fund for Impactful AI (GBP 250,000 in funding) – Opportunities For Africans – YOA