The Ethiopia Climate Innovation Center (ECIC), which is expected to be launched in last quarter of 2013, will offer a holistic suite of services to support SMEs and entrepreneurs with financing, business training, regional network building, and policy support.  The center is being developed with support from UKAID and the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and in partnership with the Government of Ethiopia’s Climate Resilience and Green Economy (CRGE).  

The Proof of Concept competition is one of ECIC’s initial activities to spur enterprises to proactively and profitably develop innovative and locally-relevant climate technology solutions.  A series of public outreach events were held throughout Ethiopia in March of 2013 to publicize the competition to interested applicants. The sessions also provided an excellent opportunity for attendees to find out about infoDev's work and how the ECIC will help develop an enabling environment for Ethiopian businesses.

Applicants were required to propose an innovative new product or service to be developed and tested in the Ethiopian market within the sectors of: 1) sustainable agribusiness, 2) bio-fuels or bio-mass, 3) transportation technologies, 4) micro-hydropower, 5) energy efficiency, 6) water management and recycling, and 7) other clean tech or clean tech support businesses, to be eligible for the competition. Sessions were held in the cities of Addis Abeba, Awassa, Mekele, Bahir Dar, Dire Dawa and Adama. The competition encouraged submissions from entrepreneurs, researchers, startups and existing companies that are developing products or business models within the clean technology space. Women-led ventures were strongly encouraged to apply.

The contest officially closed for entries on April 5, 2013 with 183 submissions from clean technology entrepreneurs. A selected evaluation panel, consisting of business and technical experts, is currently reviewing the applications. Selected finalists will receive mentorship to prepare full proposals to go to the ECIC investment committee for funding decisions. Finalists will be announced in August, 2013.

Successful candidates will (1) receive funding up to ETB 1,000,000 (around US$ 53,000) to develop, launch and/or scale a product or service, (2) have considerable exposure in ECIC’s media events and (3) have the chance to be the first set of entrepreneurs or firms to receive ECIC services such as business training, partnership and support services and subsequent funding to finance product development, prototyping, marketing, hiring staff and other product launch costs.

Winners  of the competition will be announced during ECIC’s official launch.

OVERVIEW OF APPLICANTS