Acumen invests in social entrepreneurs across the capital continuum and accompanies them on the journey to create transformational change. Acumen Academy identifies and prepares these leaders with the hard skills required to build scalable solutions to poverty and the harder skills of moral leadership to re-imagine and build a better world.
The Green RISE Africa (Resilient Impact through Sustainable Entrepreneurship) Fellowship delivered by Acumen Canada (together with Acumen Fund, Inc. and its affiliates, “Acumen”) in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation is designed to equip women and youth living in poverty to build a more inclusive and sustainable green economy. Throughout the Fellowship, entrepreneurs gain practical tools, frameworks, and community to strengthen their leadership capacity, refine their business models, expand inclusive green jobs, and grow climate-aligned solutions across the region.
The Green RISE West Africa Fellowship is open to entrepreneurs working in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia who are driving climate solutions and solving problems of poverty by creating dignified work and green job opportunities for young rural women and youth.
Subscribe for scholarship update!
Be among the first to know whenever new Acumen scholarship is going on
Green RISE West Africa Fellowship Training
Aim and Benefits of Green RISE West Africa Fellowship Training
- Through the program curriculum and a supportive cohort, participants develop the leadership and enterprise-building skills required to grow resilient green businesses. Fellows build moral leadership by strengthening their self-awareness, ability to lead teams, navigate values in tension, and communicate their vision. They also develop the tools to design business models that create inclusive green job opportunities and deliver long-term social and environmental impact.
- Participants leave the program better equipped to grow their enterprises, motivate teams, navigate complex stakeholder relationships, and build solutions that strengthen both livelihoods and climate resilience.
Requirements for Green RISE West Africa Fellowship Training Qualification
- You want to get yourself and your impact to the next level. You’re looking for people to support you on your journey. You have a bold vision for how your work can contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable green economy. You want to develop yourself as a credible and inspiring leader while strengthening the enterprise you are building.
- You believe the opposite of poverty isn’t wealth, it’s dignity. For you, dignity is about respect, recognition, and the right of every person to be heard, safe, and seen as capable of shaping their own future. Your enterprise embeds that belief into how work is designed, how people are treated, and how economic value is shared. You are running a business or enterprise that contributes to a more inclusive and sustainable green economy by creating job opportunities for young rural women and youth.
- You have a sense of urgency to make a contribution to Africa’s growing green economy. You’ve grown impatient with the status quo - both within yourself and in the world. You are building a solution that creates both climate and economic impact and are searching for the tools and community to develop it.
- You are ready to join a global community of peers who are passionate about solving problems of poverty and will walk alongside you. You want to connect with others who have been where you are and join a community to give and receive and where it’s okay to define success differently, and put people and the planet at the center.
Application Deadline
May 11, 2026How to Apply
Interested and qualified? Go to
Acumen on login.acumenacademy.org to apply
- Read the Applicant Toolkit - Please read the Application Toolkit to prepare your application.
- Submit the Online Application - The application has been designed to understand more about you, your work and impact, as well as your program readiness. We encourage you to start the application early.
- Participate in the Selection Conference - Shortlisted applicants are invited to participate in a 2-day virtual Selection Conference.
- Start your Fellowship JourneyJuly - The team will notify selected applicants, and support them as they start their Fellowship journey.
For more information, kindly visit Acumen Fellowship webpage.
Menu
