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About the Impact Platform

Impact Platform is an 8-months incubation program designed to support early stage profit and non-profit impact driven social enterprise and civil society initiatives to create positive Impact locally and internationally by becoming sustainable, scalable and impactful.

The platform aims to bring together 25 like-minded teams and projects that concentrate on social innovation and social entrepreneurship to establish a supportive and collaborative community that focuses on networking and peer-to-peer learning.

About the Impact Platform

2023 Cycle Theme

The Impact Platform focuses on supporting the development of early stage projects that aim to create positive social impact, while focusing on those that drive social, economic, and political reform and integration.

The projects applying must focus on one (or more) of the following impacts:

Social Impact:

Enhance youth civic engagement, cohesion & empowerment
Address education & promote digital literacy
Promote Human Rights and freedom of speech

Economic Impact :

Encourage sustainable consumption and production that works on Climate Change mitigation.
Fight poverty, promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
Promote productive employment and decent work opportunities for all

Political Impact :

Address political inequality
Promote good governance and transparency
Facilitate dialogue and enable policy change

Why join us?

We offer tailored support package that will meet your project’s unique needs, it’s designed to take you and your project to the next levels through:

Personalized Mentorship

Experienced professionals will offer you guidance, advice and support through customized mentorship & companionship sessions tailored to the specific needs and goals of your project.

Holistic Growth and Learning Experience

The platform provides you with relevant skills and know-how through a series of online and offline training, workshops, coaching and bootcamps in addition to access to a database of knowledge resources.

International Exposure & Networking

Connect with like-minded entrepreneurs, organizations, and industry experts from around the world, and have the chance to showcase your project at the Al Sharq Youth International Conference.

Consultancy Support

Customized consultancy sessions covering specific topics such as finance and legal will be available for your project to aid you in overcoming challenges.

Impact Maximization

Guidance and training support on how to effectively identify and apply for funding, approach investors and navigate the resource mobilization process, to help you develop your project and amplify its impact.

Program Roadmap

The 8-months Impact Platform incubation cycle is structured on 5 main stages:

1
Online Application:

Submit your project application through the online form.
2
Filtration and Evaluation:

Your application will be evaluated by a panel of experts. If selected, you will be invited to participate in an interview process where you will have the opportunity to further elaborate and support your proposal.

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Incubation Stage:

Be part of a 5-month unique incubation experience to refine your project’s model, conduct stakeholders analysis, develop your prototype and much more through extensive training, workshops, bootcamps and mentorship.
4
Demoday & In-Person Retreat:

At Al Sharq Youth International Conference, you will pitch your project to potential partners and funders, followed by a week-long physical retreat that offers training, support, mentorship and networking opportunities with other projects and experts.

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Acceleration Stage:

Participate in a growth program to increase your project’s success rate, develop your project plan, build partnerships, networking and learn to maximize your impact.

Eligibility Criteria

Age: between 22-38

Language: Efficiently understand and communicate in English.

Impact: Address one or more of our 2023 cycle’s impacts mentioned above.

Project Type: Impact Driven Social Enterprise (for profit) or Civil society initiative (non-profit)

Project Stage: Project to be a prototype or to have some progress in development.

Selection Criteria

A. About the Project/Initiative

Theme Relevance: Project has to be an innovative response to the areas of work & challenges determined by the platform.
Novelty: Project has to be innovative and provide a new approach to a problem or use an existing approach in a new way.
Technology: Project is preferred to utilize digital technology.
Relevance to capabilities: Project has to be consistent with the core competencies of the candidate.
Human-centric: Project has to be a human centric solution, proofed by demonstrating an understanding of the needs of intended beneficiaries and stakeholders.

B. About the project lead/team

Awareness: Required to demonstrate a deep understanding of the context for the proposed solution.
Commitment: Required to be strong, qualified and willing to commit to the project.
Experience: Preferred that the project’s lead/ team have proven experience in their project’s sector.
Team based project: It is preferred that the initiative is submitted and implemented by a team (at least 2 people).
Coachability: Project team is expected to improve in response to feedback and advice, and scale what’s working to change what is not.

C. About the project’s impact

Scalability: Project should be possible to be scaled and replicated in different contexts.
Sustainability: Project should have a potential of continuity beyond the support period.
Social impact: Project’s social impact needs to be evident and significant.
Measurable: Project’s impact should be tangible & measurable.