The African Climate Innovation Challenge (ACIC) which is jointly developed and implemented by 3 E’s 4 Africa, Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO) and StartUp Lounge Africa is a project which intends to focus on the innovative minds and projects of young Africans and encourage and empower them to create a local impact in their communities. It is an idea contest which challenges young Africans to come up with innovative, green ideas and helps them to develop them into real solutions.  Young Africans apply with ideas for solving environmental problems with an entrepreneurial mindset. The best 10 concepts are selected as the ACIC Cohort. They will go through an online curriculum, consisting of training and digital workshops, as well as P2P sessions between mentors and participants. This gives teams the opportunity to work on and develop their ideas further. Topics covered include environmental protection, climate change, social engagement, digital literacy, project management and business creation/management. The top 5 projects will be invited to the African Climate Week in Nairobi as finalists where the pitch event will take place. After the pitch event, the jury will select the 3 winners. Each winner will receive a considerable prize money dedicated to support them in the direct implementation of their idea in the community.

1. Empower youth and local communities in Africa by providing them not only with entrepreneurship skills, but also with the tools and knowledge they need to create local impact.
2. Help African communities build resilience and adapt to the adverse effects of climate change locally.
3. Addressing and solving sustainability-related challenges through entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa.

Any innovative and/or relevant solution which strives to help your community mitigate climate change or to enable your community to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change qualifies for the ACIC. For example:

1. 1. an idea which proposes a solution or enables farmers to deal with the harsh weather conditions (e.g. longer droughts periods) would qualify as a climate change adaptation solution;
   2. an idea which proposes a solution or enables people in your community to reduce CO2 or methane emissions would qualify as a climate change mitigation solution.

Please fill in the application form before the deadline. In filling the form, please take your time and carefully answer the questions completely. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

The ACIC this year is open to all African countries. Teams applying must therefore be based in Africa. Please keep in mind that the whole program of the ACIC will be in English.

1. Before applying, make sure your team and yourself are willing and able to commit to the program of the ACIC
2. You should be a team of 2 – 6 people. Applications from teams with less than 2 people and more than 6 people will not be considered
3. Although not required, we specifically want to encourage female-led teams and teams with 40% – 50% female participants
4. All the members of your team must be of African descent and based in Africa
5. Existing and officially registered start-ups will not be considered
6. The idea you are applying with must be centered around climate change mitigation and/or climate change adaptation
7. All members of your team must be between 18 and 35 years old
8. All members of the team must have a good mastery of the English language

The best 10 concepts are selected as the ACIC Cohort. They will go through an online curriculum, consisting of training and digital workshops, as well as P2P sessions between mentors and participants. Each team will be matched with a mentor throughout the program. This gives teams the opportunity to work on and develop their ideas further. Topics covered in the curriculum include environmental protection, climate change, social engagement, digital literacy, project management and business creation and more.

1. All 10 participating teams will get the chance to participate in a 3 months incubation program which will be offered completely free of charge by our local partners. For those who make significant progress during the incubation phase, we will be happy to provide access to an acceleration program through one of our partners. 
2. The 5 finalists selected from the 10 participating teams will have the unique chance to not only participate but also to pitch their ideas on the big stage during the African Climate Week in Nairobi, Kenya. This will provide a lot of exposure and opportunities for networking.
3. The jury will select the 3 best ideas from the 5 finalists. Each winner will receive considerable prize money dedicated to support them in the direct implementation of their idea in the community.

After the pitch event, winning teams will have 3 months to implement their projects or concepts in their community with the prize money. At the same time all other 7 teams will have the chance to undergo a 3 months incubation program to further develop their idea.

1. Out of the 10 participating teams, 5 finalists will be selected. These finalists will have the unique opportunity to pitch their idea on the big stage during the African Climate Summit co-hosted by the Republic of Kenya and the African Union Commission (AUC) taking place in Nairobi from September 4th – 8th
2. An independent jury will be responsible for the selection of the three winning teams after the pitch event in Nairobi. Multiple aspects will be taken into consideration for the selection of the winning teams. Some of them include: 
   • How innovative is your idea and what does your implementation plan look like?
   • When it comes to climate change mitigation and adaptation, how relevant is your proposed solution and what impact will it have for the targeted community?
   • How well can you pitch and present your idea?

Please make sure to submit your application latest by

June 29th 13:00 GMT