ECOWAS Youth and Women Entrepreneurship Programme (EYWEP)

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), through its Centre for Youthand Sports Development (CDJS/ECOWAS), is implementing the ECOWAS YouthandWomen's Entrepreneurship Programme (EYWEP) with the technical and financial support of AUDA-NEPAD. This program aims to promote the economic empowerment of young people throughcapacitybuilding, technical support, mentoring, networking, access to business support services andthe development of sustainable entrepreneurship in the community space. As part of the pilot phase, ECOWAS is launching this call for projects to select youngentrepreneurs aged 18 to 35 who already have an existing business or an operational entrepreneurial activity, and who need targeted support to properly start, consolidate, developor continue their production. The pilot phase covers the following seven countries:  Benin  Ivory Coast  Gambia  Ghana  Guinea-Bissau  Senegal  Sierra Leone 2. Purpose of the call for projects This call for projects aims to identify and support young entrepreneurs already engagedinaneconomic activity or with an existing business, in order to strengthen their production, management, structuring and development capacity. The objective is to enable beneficiaries to:  consolidate their business;  improve their production or service delivery;  strengthen their entrepreneurial and financial management;  access mentorship, networking, and partnership opportunities;  improve their visibility and market access; increase their resilience and growth potential. 3. Target Audience This call is open exclusively:  young people aged 18 to 35;

 nationals or residents of one of the seven pilot countries;  young people who already have an existing business, formal or informal, or anentrepreneurial activity already underway;

 start-ups, structuring or growth start-ups;

 young developers in need of support to strengthen, stabilize or develop their business.

4. Eligible Domains Businesses or activities must fall under one of the following priority sectors:

 pharmaceutical industry;

 information and communication technologies (ICT);

 solar energy and renewable energy;

 agrosilvopastoral activities and agricultural value chains.

5. Program Format At the end of the process, the best projects selected from each country will be able tobenefit from grants, special prizes and a connection with financial and technical partners, accordingto the modalities set by ECOWAS